A mere 17,3% of South African companies have women as chief executive officers (CEOs) and chairpersons, while only 1% to 6% of government procurement ends up with women-owned businesses.
This is according to a survey conducted by the South African Medical Technology Industry Association (Samed), a not-for-gain voluntary trade association that represents the medical technology (medtech) industry in South Africa.
According to the body, globally, women are underrepresented in leadership roles, with 24% of C-suite positions – chief officer positions such as CEO, chief financial officer (CFO), chief operating officer (COO), and chief information officer (CIO) – in medtech being filled by women.
The body has about 154 member companies and announced that it was working towards increasing the figure.
It is embarking on this venture by tracking and measuring the performance and practices related to women’s inclusion, diversity, and empowerment within the medtech industry, as well as to its value chain.
The organisation stated that 40 member companies out of 154 have already pledged their participation in the Samed Women Empowerment Index – a benchmarking tool designed to monitor and encourage progress made towards greater economic inclusion and empowerment of women in the medtech industry.
Scott de Oliviera, chair of the Samed Diversity Committee and vice-president, has urged fellow members, captains of industry and partners to embrace the opportunity that the Samed Women Empowerment Index provides to achieve meaningful change.
He said the plan was to have all Samed members participate as well as encourage non-member medtech organisations to join the industry’s drive for gender equality in professional spaces.
De Oliviera said Samed will also be able to provide reliable information on transformation and gender parity to the South African authorities, the Labour Department, both the national and provincial Department of Health (DOH), the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra), private hospital networks, and health funders.
He said the intervention will align with and enhance other Samed and sector objectives and programmes, including the YES4Youth programme
This is a joint initiative between business, labour, and government, that aims to address South Africa’s youth unemployment by providing job opportunities and work experience for individuals aged between 18 and 35 years.
Through this initiative, 41 Samed member companies have created more than 2 700 youth jobs (64% female youth employees) and are working towards achieving the 2024 Medtech Masterplan goal to generate 1 000 new jobs in the medtech sector over the next three years.
