A recent study has revealed the top five challenges faced by South African women in business today – with unsuccessful negotiations and discussions being cited as very real issues.
According to research conducted by The Human Edge, women in South Africa face various gender-related challenges at work, mainly centering around unsuccessful dialogue among co-workers and bosses.
And when you consider the fact that a tenth of women in South Africa feel compelled to leave their jobs after unsuccessful dialogue it becomes apparent just how big the problem really is.
The Human Edge together with partners VitalSmarts listed the following as the toughest issues women in business in South Africa are coming up against:
1. Holding salary-related discussions
2. Negotiations limits when asked to do more than is reasonably possible
3. Lack of support from female co-workers
4. Holding performance-related discussions
5. Advocating for equality in payments / promotions regarding men and women
In addition to these findings it was found that women across different races also experienced entirely different challenges in the workplace.
These are the results:
• Black women cited their biggest hurdle as working with individuals who didn’t feel as though the position should or could be held by a black female.
• Mixed race women cited a lack of support from other female colleagues.
• Asian women said negotiating to be assigned greater responsibility was their number one challenge.
• And white women said the biggest hurdle they found in the workplace was negotiating limits when being asked to do something not reasonable or possible.
What are the biggest challenges you face in the workplace?
Staff Training is a South African soft skills training provider, contact us at (021) 839 3021 or info@StaffTraining.co.za