CCBSA WOMEN TAKE OWNERSHIP OF THE FUTURE
Four women leaders at Africa’s largest soft-drink bottler, Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa, reflect on what it means to experience South Africa’s path to gender equality
As communities around the country pick themselves up and rise from the ashes, it is the women who are the worst affected. It is the women who are at the forefront of caring for and rebuilding the communities and the businesses that are so vital to the future of the country. This, at a time where out of the three million jobs lost in the economy during the pandemic, two million were held by women, according to a Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (CRAM) policy brief on the gendered effects of the ongoing lockdown and school closures in South Africa. An article, “Women, men and caregiving in South Africa”, by Unisa’s College of Human Sciences reveals that 92 per cent of primary caretakers of children in poor households are women. At Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA), the transformation has yielded much fruit and the company recently reached the milestone of becoming a Level 1 B-BBEE contributor for the first time, with over 60 per cent of top management being black and 30 per cent being black women.
A WOMAN’S PERSPECTIVE
The four women featured here hold key leadership roles and influence decisions that will impact the business and communities around the country where CCBSA has a presence. They reflect on what it means to be women within the company, as well as in the country’s evolution towards greater equality.
Karlien van Eeden, head of Grocery Modern Trade Commercial at CCBSA, says:
“Within a challenging market and personal environment, leaders were indeed tested on agility. We were forced to quickly adapt and navigate the management of our teams in very different ways. We were well positioned in our women in leadership roles and therefore prepared through a “woman’s touch” to navigate and lead our teams through difficult times.
“We observed that diversity isn’t just about being male or female, but a realisation that every single individual, irrespective of gender, handles a difficult situation differently. It is important for us to not only reflect internally, but also to revisit how we are supporting those around us. As women, we should continue to stand tall together, supporting each other openly and truthfully,” she says.
Van Eeden is a mother of three – a daughter and two sons – and believes that empowering girls, and educating boys around gender equality at an early age, is key to ensuring real and meaningful transformation of the next generation.
“It is our responsibility to teach our daughters that women have a voice,” she says. “From there, we should make an effort to reach out and guide other young girls in the community. An important lesson for me is to also actively participate, take the step and get involved. This could be through existing school platforms or structured community nongovernmental organisations or even reaching out to the young girl who lives down the road.”
Kagiso Matjila, district manager of Operations in CCBSA’s Gauteng Region, says while men still hold the majority of decision-making powers in society, women hold a different kind of power.
“In August 65 years ago, women marched to the Union Buildings to protest against legislation aimed at tightening the apartheid government’s control over the movement of black women in urban areas,” she says. “Fast-forward to 2021, and while we have made some good strides in addressing women inequalities, the coronavirus pandemic has exposed a greater prevalence of gender inequality in society than during normal times.
“The lockdowns have proved to be extremely challenging for all women. With all family members isolated at home, demanding more care and attention, the crisis has increased our burden substantially. However, we women have an even bigger role to play in driving transformation and being advocates for our female colleagues. We need to speak out and share our struggles. The world has been transformed by women who rose to the occasion to combat prejudice against women,” she says.
Matjila says a key acknowledgement of women’s contributions is to grow more women in all levels of management. This should not just be in areas that are typically seen as being more suited for women, but should also include real transformation in traditionally male-dominated roles, such as on the factory floor and logistics network.
“We need to evaluate women’s performances more fairly and ensure that women get the credit they deserve. We need to look for opportunities to publicly acknowledge their accomplishments,” she adds. “Our success needs to be attributed to innate qualities and skills, not external factors such as getting help from others or because ‘you got lucky’.
“WE NEED TO EVALUATE WOMEN’S PERFORMANCES MORE FAIRLY AND ENSURE THAT WOMEN GET THE CREDIT THEY DESERVE.” – KAGISO MATJILA
“We also need to share office ‘housework’, as women tend to take on more of this, such as taking notes, organising events, making coffee, and so on. As the mother of a two-year-old daughter, I also strongly feel that we need to the ‘maternal wall’ that assumes that because of motherhood, a woman is less competent and less committed to her career,” she adds.
Karlien van Eeden
Kagiso Matjila
Mellisha Ramrathan, regional wholesale manager for CCBSA’s Commercial Division, says that transformation should extend beyond the office walls and be enacted just as intentionally at home as it is in the business environment.
“Women have been suffering in every age and country from protectors that include fathers, brothers, uncles, neighbours and others in childhood, boyfriends and lovers in youth, husbands and in-laws in married life, and sons and others in old age,” she says. “It is indicative that men continue to bask in the belief that women are inferior and thus robbed of their rights.
“Women continue to be the victims of social, political, religious, and economic subordination and deprivation in society. It is heartening to see CCBSA’s men in leadership support the protection and empowerment of woman through the various platforms readily available to us,” she says.
Ramrathan says it is vital for every woman who has been affected by abuse to constantly interrogate their personal strategy to navigate the world, ensuring that this does not go against their value system, but allows them to think differently about success.
“Women generally build on the power from within as a necessary adjunct to improving their ability to control resources, determine agendas and make the necessary decisions,” she says. “Such power is not given, rather it has to be self-generated, which goes back to the fundamental principles of self-esteem and perceiving oneself as an active agent completely capable of making decisions.”
She says that men need gender sensitisation as much as women do, hence she proposes that they need to consider a mechanism that influences policy changes both at the micro and macro level for women empowerment to be effective.
“IT IS HEARTENING TO SEE CCBSA’S MEN IN LEADERSHIP SUPPORT THE PROTECTION AND EMPOWERMENT OF WOMAN THROUGH THE VARIOUS PLATFORMS READILY AVAILABLE TO US.”
– MELLISHA RAMRATHAN
Angela van Vuuren, regional sales execution manager for CCBSA’s Gauteng Region, agrees that men can contribute to gender equality by believing it and living it.
“Actions speak louder than words. Men need to learn and understand the issues surrounding gender equality. Men can actively make a difference and support women,” she says. “I am not fully convinced that we are making enough strides as a nation in terms of women empowerment.
“We are moving forward, but progress is slow. Only a minority of senior positions within South African businesses are held by women – and this is 26 years since our first Women’s Day. Still, I am proud to be working for an organisation that practises an active women-in-leadership mindset,” she says .
Van Vuuren says it is important for female leaders to encourage, empower and inspire women at all levels in the organisation.
“I AM NOT FULLY CONVINCED THAT WE ARE MAKING ENOUGH STRIDES AS A NATION IN TERMS OF WOMEN EMPOWERMENT.” – ANGELA VAN VUUREN
“When we share our experiences, learnings and talk about how we have overcome obstacles in both our professional and personal lives, it gives other women perspective and comfort that we all face obstacles, but we can overcome them,” she says. “As women, we should never forget that being ourselves adds value to the organisation and its people.”
Mellisha
Ramrathan
Angela van Vuuren
www.ccbsaco.com
https://cramsurvey.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/5.-Casale-Policy-Brief.pdf
https://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/corporate/default/Colleges/Human-Sciences/ News-&-events/Articles/Women,-men-and-caregiving-in-South-Africa
