{"id":69199,"date":"2021-09-10T16:17:36","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T14:17:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/?p=69199"},"modified":"2024-02-27T14:34:54","modified_gmt":"2024-02-27T12:34:54","slug":"how-tech-can-enable-more-women-in-the-workforce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/how-tech-can-enable-more-women-in-the-workforce\/","title":{"rendered":"How tech can enable more women in the workforce"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tHow tech can enable more women in the workforce\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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As we concluded Women\u2019s Month in August, we were served a bitter and cold dish in the form of Stats SA\u2019s Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for Q2 2021, with South Africa <\/span>recording<\/span><\/a> the highest unemployment rate since 2008.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around\u00a034%\u00a0of the population is unemployed.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a07.8 million jobless people,\u00a0the majority of which\u00a0are\u00a0women. The rate of unemployment among women\u00a0is 36.8%, compared to 32.4% among men.\u00a0What\u2019s\u00a0more,\u00a0men\u00a0are\u00a0more likely to be in paid employment than women, regardless of their race.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/span>There\u2019s a lot of talk about the future of work and how operational models are shifting to revolve more around individuals than workplaces. The good news is that technology has enormous potential to empower more women in the workplace and in entrepreneurship.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The changing nature of work\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

 <\/span>The future of work presents an opportunity, particularly for women who have been playing catchup with their male counterparts for the longest time. Women who care for their families and children can benefit from the convenience of remote work, especially when considering how much time can be saved between travelling to and from work.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/span>Zanele Njapha, a futurist and unlearning expert, says work is being moulded around the individual rather than the workplace. She believes most individuals have realised how they can shape work around them; this is after many people resigned from their jobs after being recalled to the office. In what has been called \u2018the great resignation\u2019, people are realising that working remotely suits them better.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPreviously, our entire lives have been moulded around work: the kind of clothes we wear, the cars we drive, where our children go to school, who we marry. But the most exciting thing we see changing is how most of us have realised that we can mould work around <\/span>our<\/span><\/i> lives, not the other way around. We can now mould work around who we are, what we like, what we prefer, and when we choose to work,\u201d she says.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0rise of the\u00a0gig economy\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This new nature of work is largely enabled by the platform or gig economy. Interestingly, women in Africa are more <\/span>likely<\/span><\/a> than men to be entrepreneurs, with women making up 58% of the continent\u2019s self-employed population. This means that women can use their innate entrepreneurial spirit to <\/span>embrace the gig economy<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>

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There is immense <\/span>potential<\/span><\/a> in these spaces, and it\u2019s crucial for individuals, particularly women, to change their mindsets about work. This sentiment is expressed by Emma El-Karout, founder and managing director at <\/span>One Circle<\/span><\/a>, a community of freelance HR consultants. According to her, it\u2019s crucial that people \u2013 especially the youth \u2013 <\/span>rethink the idea of work<\/span><\/a> and start educating themselves on the new global opportunities presented and enabled by the Fourth Industrial Revolution.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would say a change in mindset is the start. There are a lot of platforms where individuals can learn and develop new skills. At the same time, the platform economy provides opportunities that are available anywhere around the world,\u201d she says.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Better education\u00a0and\u00a0awareness\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

El-Karout believes a solution can arise at grassroots level by changing how we educate and prepare young people for this new way of working. The current education model, she says, has not evolved fast enough to keep up with and accommodate the pace of change in the world.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are still educating young people with the same traditional ways of education while still expecting them to plug into the future of work easily. A lot needs to improve on the education side, one of which is how we prepare people to work virtually, digitally, and remotely.\u201d<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The big challenge for most women, particularly in <\/span>underserved<\/span><\/a> areas, is that they don\u2019t have enough information about such opportunities, which makes raising awareness about them crucial, says Roderick Wolfenden, Africa Markets Leader at <\/span>EY<\/span><\/a>.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He believes that the government should play a more active role in ensuring that this type of information is available to the public and incentivises businesses to spread the word.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Better\u00a0management, HR, and new leadership styles\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn a male-dominated industry such as ours, the onus is on organisations to introduce much <\/span>more flexibility for women<\/span><\/a>,\u201d says Karina Brijlal, marketing manager at open source developer <\/span>Red Hat<\/span><\/a> <\/span>Sub Saharan Africa. Karina believes that women\u2019s wellness needs to become a more significant focus for organisations.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor women, working from home is both a blessing and a curse. While we\u2019re certainly making headway in levelling out gender roles, women still assume responsibility for managing the household,\u201d she says.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hope Lukoto, chief human resources officer at <\/span>BCX<\/span><\/a>,<\/span> believes that more emphasis should be placed on work culture and leadership development. \u201c<\/span>We are now called to lead differently; resilience is the core of what every leader should be looking for in their people because change is constant; it\u2019s going to happen,\u201d she says.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If employees don\u2019t feel <\/span>connected, supported, and appreciated<\/span><\/a>, they\u2019ll be less likely to stay with your business. <\/span>Cloud HR software<\/span><\/a> solutions can help you stay on top of everything you need to keep your workforce productive and your operations smooth.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Nkuli Mbundu, regional sales manager at MicroStrategy, managers need more emotional intelligence than ever to do their jobs in these remote work scenarios.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThink about a mother of two children living in a two-bedroom house, who has no space to work from home and still has to drive the kids back and forth; the game has changed. It requires more EQ from a leadership perspective, and I think it\u2019s critical for organisations to invest in those kinds of skills for management.\u201d<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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Government\u00a0intervention\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUsing the expanded definition of unemployment, which accounts for those discouraged from seeking work, the effective unemployment rate has increased to 44.4%. This means almost one out of two people in the country are out of work, and <\/span>women<\/span><\/a>, particularly those in rural areas, are the hardest hit,\u201d says Mbundu.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To address this, he believes the government should establish an enabling platform for private-sector tech companies to invest in digital enablement for women.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBe it in the form of tax breaks or other incentives, companies should be encouraged to provide free or subsidised education, delivered via online channels, to reach the furthest points in the country. This requires targeted recognition of women entrepreneurs and helping them develop the skills required for the new world of work.\u201d<\/span> \n

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