Positive measures for women on top? : Corporate boards quotas and South Africa’s multidimensional strategies for workplace equality

Cathi Albertyn

doi:10.35295/osls.iisl.2697

Authors

Cathi Albertyn University of the Witwatersrand School of Law

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl.2697

Keywords:

positive measures, gender equality, quotas, substantive equality, economic power

Abstract

Over the past twenty years, countries in the global north introduced positive measures, by way of preferential appointment to corporate boards, tied to targets or quotas. During the same period, South Africa put in place extensive race- and gender-based affirmative action and empowerment programmes for appointment and promotion at all levels of the workplace, including targets for positions of ownership, control and management across the economy. This article interrogates the South African experience in advancing women at the top end of the economy against the backdrop of CBQs in the global north, thus contrasting a singular focus on CBQs with an approach that embeds them within a wider set of measures.

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Author Biography

Cathi Albertyn, University of the Witwatersrand School of Law

SA Research Chair in Equality, Law and Social Justice

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