Rethinking inclusive workplaces: an intersection perspectiveon African and coloured women leaders in South Africa private sector organisations

Abstract

Despite the growing number of women employed in South African private-sector organisations, the underrepresentation of African and Coloured women in senior and top leadership roles persists. Even with rigorous legislation intended to enable inclusive gender transformation, their proportionate representation in senior leadership roles remains elusive. This renders their voices absent in strategic practice and discourse. While extensive research exists on gender transformation in South African organisations, few studies employ the intersectional lens. As a result, current research fails to uncover the interconnected nature of personal and systemic factors that shape women leaders’ experiences. This qualitative study was underpinned by interpretivism and employed narrative inquiry to examine the lived experiences of African and Coloured women leaders in South African private sector organisations. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 African and Coloured women in middle, senior, and top leadership positions. Thematic and dialogic narrative analyses were employed for data analysis. The overall findings revealed that race, gender, age, and social capital did not intersect in isolation; instead, they were mutually constitutive with contextual factors, generating simultaneous experiences of privilege and subordination. The two groups of participants had common and divergent experiences of inequality within and across groups, as well as similar and discordant self and career narratives. Commonalities manifested through internalised inadequacies emanating from disadvantaged familial backgrounds; the near-absence of social networks; alienating workplace cultures; language and accent; and limited access to sponsorship and crucial information. Divergent narratives were evident in identity ambiguity, notions of preferred blacks, and differential proximity to whiteness by virtue of phenotypes and language. While transformation legislation was generally considered a positive factor, it was criticised by Coloured participants for its perceived biased focus on African women and relative neglect of Coloured women. The Intersectional Career Development Framework, developed from research data, is the study's main contribution. It closes the knowledge gap on the interlocking axes that constrain the progression of African and Coloured women leaders into strategic leadership levels. The framework provides policymakers, private sector leaders, human resources practitioners and aspiring women leaders with a deeper understanding of the interlocking personal and systemic barriers that stagnate the careers of African and Coloured women in middle-level leadership roles.