The effectiveness of work-life balance strategies in promoting gender diversity beyond junior executive level for South African women

Abstract

Women have historically borne the responsibilities of family and home life. With the advent of the need for dual earner families, many women have used the opportunity inherent in the closing gender gap in access to education, to obtain better paying jobs. Despite this change, women are still expected to bear their historical role of family responsibilities. Whilst many organisations have introduced work-life balance strategies in an effort to assist female employees balance these roles, the effectiveness of these strategies in promoting gender equality beyond junior executive level is doubtful. The data pertaining to this research problem was collected from 15 junior executive women from 15 different organisations through a semi-structured, open-ended interview questionnaire. The key findings are that South African organisations do not offer as many work-life balance strategies as the literature would lead one to anticipate. When they do offer these strategies, they are thought to have a negative impact on the ability of women junior executives to progress to more senior positions within the organisation. The continued discrimination of women on the basis that they have families and want to be involved with those families has to end in order for gender equality at senior executive levels to become a reality. Women need to take an active role in changing cultural norms by engaging with their spouses to share family responsibility and by shaping future generations to do the same. In addition female senior executives also have a part to play in mentoring female junior executives to attain their desired career aspirations, instead of playing the part of honorary males. The most important change however lies with organisations. They need to be more conscious of their reasons for offering these strategies and need to make these strategies a cultural norm, which may require a cultural shift within the organisation. This change may include encouraging their male employees to use work-life balance strategies. Finally, organisations have to monitor the iii effectiveness of these strategies in meeting the desired goals, like they would do for any other strategy that is believed to be of importance to the organisation.