THE COST OF CARE

What our participants said:

The issue is not that we do not have highly qualified women professionals in South Africa; [it’s] that many of the most qualified choose not to work in the formal sector

Fatima Vawda, MD of 27four Investment Managers

The care economy is completely undervalued Women tend to perform the roles needed in that economy, for example raising children and looking after the elderly This leads to women either choosing not to enter the formal sector or having a stunted career journey trying to balance the role of a career with that of a carer More should be done to assign value to “ care ” roles As the study suggests, it is not about forcing a balance of roles between the genders Wo- men gravitate towards roles where there is purpose; more should be done about recognising the value of these roles you that working mothers are more efficient during their workday

Women, the care economy and the Martha effect

From the study:

No discussion of parity representation of women in the workplace can take place without consideration of the role of the care economy in South Africa This economy can be defined as the paid and unpaid labour involved in looking after children’s and adults’ physical, psychological, emotional and developmental needs Even during Covid lockdowns, which kept both parents at home, studies show that the bulk of household labour and child care fell on women in South Africa

Despite its critical importance,

Mike Arbuthnot,

founding voice for Asisa’s

Fezeka graduate programme

For far too long women had to act like men to progress in their careers act like men in the sense that they prioritise work instead of family to be seen as having ambition Working hard supposedly meant ignoring the caregiving role that women are culturally and traditionally faced with in exchange for climbing the ladder

This issue has gone even deeper: women delay having children so that they can be comfortable enough to afford childcare and make enough money to still be relevant at work while trying to provide the best care for their children Some women joke that they will make up the lost time with their family with expensive holidays Actively making women ’ s lives easier through navigating workplace and home life will attract women back to the workforce

Kgabang Moloedi, investment analyst at the EPPF

The report speaks to the care economy, for which women are often responsible Conversations need to be had within organisations about enabling participation in both investments and the care economy Child rearing should not be a reason to need to step back from the career ladder: you can do both In fact, some research will tell the true economic value of “care” never properly features in our economic planning or accounting

In 1995, the UN Development Programme estimated women’s unpaid work to be worth $11-trillion, compared with a global GDP of $23-trillion, yet little progress has been made in formally recognising this sector, much less in formally rewarding the “caregiver” for their contribution

Another important dynamic for women in South Africa is “the Martha effect” This is the phenomenon that shows girls tending both to outperform boys and to persevere longer in their studies Yet there is still an approximately 15% gap in pay as women enter the workforce

Ann Leepile, CEO of Alexander Forbes Investments

While the current investment culture persists, issues regarding the care economy will continue during discussions about better gender representation This is because the culture does not naturally lend itself to addressing the challenges within the current work environment These are factors outside the typical cultural considerations that each workplace needs to contend with For us to get better gender representation within this culture, the idea of decoupling the care economy from women needs to be socially normalised Getting external assistance is not financially feasible, and someone needs to take the lead internally

This can result in conversations about the care economy being dragged into the core of the current work environment Such conversations include topics such as canteen etiquette rules, parking arrangements, office design, the possibility of taking occasional naps during the day when one is pregnant or has been up all night with children, and even religious matters

Increasingly there are a myriad issues people are exposed to within the work environment Therefore the work culture will need to be ahead of these arising issues constantly so that, as a priority, people maintain the actual work of investment

Our suggesstion:

This has broad implications for the kind of employee benefits that will attract and retain women professionals Effectively, businesses need to recognise that the dividing line between home and work has become blurred And with government failing to deliver on critical areas of social capital, it is becoming more incumbent for businesses to step up to the plate This relates to the offering of benefits that help fill the gaps regarding access to workplace solutions for early childhood development or caregiving, flexitime and health-care solutions that lift the burdens on mothers, and also to ongoing skills development programmes that enhance one’s human capital value

It’s not just about the money one earns it’s also about how effectively the employer can help women alleviate other pressing needs that their roles tend to demand

and our clients’ life savings

Nomathibana Okello, MD of Terebinth Capital

There are studies that indicate a high dropout rate of women in asset management after having children vs those with other careers. This could speak to both industry culture and the wider societal norms of women as primary caregivers Creating family-friendly workplaces will help wo-

Closed Doors

What our participants said:

As the report will show, at entry level, competency is never in question Women are qualifying with all the right degrees necessary for successful careers as fund managers, and there is equal representation of both genders in the CFA exams

What we clearly need to reassess is the culture of our organisations, the composition of our staff complement, especially at men to return to work after they have had children or to retain the full working hours often required to be promoted

Unathi Loos, portfolio manager at Ninety One

A deeper issue that came to the fore from this study is that several women do not aspire to senior leadership positions because their families do not believe in equal opportunities for men and women The senior levels our young women joining the world of investments must see themselves in senior levels, as chief investment officers, CEOs and senior portfolio managers You can ’t be what you can ’t see

Ann Leepile, CEO of Alexander Forbes Investments

Here’ s a harsh reality for young black investment professionals in Cape Town: if you ’ re not into mountain biking or hiking or some sort of outdoor athletic endeavour, you don’t get to participate in one of the most critical socialisation exercises of all for advancing your career

Kgabang Moloedi, investment analyst at EPPF

It is true that in South Africa the qualification criteria are too narrow Studies have shown that in other countries the path to investment management is more varied This is likely due to the structure of our education system, which seems to prefer specialisation at undergraduate degree point made about the impact of Covid and lockdowns on women ’ s career choices is an important one Now, women have to be both full-time mothers and full-time workers, and the hybrid working model has only worsened the problem Owners and leaders of asset management companies need to delve into this negative dynamic

Jennifer Henry, president of the CFA Society South Africa level The reality, though, is that even with broader entry criteria in terms of university coursework and specialisation it is hard to see how maths and accounting skills would not be needed to succeed in the industry (if not as an entry requirement, then as part of the in-house training the study proposes) given how analysis and portfolio construction is done

Similarly, the inclusion of social, psychological, environment and developmental criteria for entry into the industry would only gain mainstream acceptance if shown to benefit the broader team performance and outcomes for clients These criteria should be seen in the context of how they add to the team’ s “collective intelligence” and not used to stereotype women as less numerically apt than men

Unathi Loos, portfolio manager at Ninety One

It’ s really not about men vs women or other demographic markers Rather it’ s about recognising and valuing how differ-

Gaining entry into the club

From the study:

Ask women professionals how they got into the exclusive domain of portfolio management and the disturbingly candid response is invariably: by serendipity For most of our subjects, asset management as a profession was never an aspirational goal To begin with, very few of the women who ended up in asset management even knew what it was until they got there University programmes dedicated to portfolio management were few and far between, and seemed more targeted to the day-trading type of investor Larger asset management companies have started offering training programmes to graduates as stepping stones to industry participation. But the experience of the majority of trainees who were interviewed was that the training more often led them to call centres or low-level administration jobs. From there, entrance into the investment or analyst club was stymied because these low-level functions were not seen as providing the trainees with adequate technical know-how

Our findings:

The current push to hire more women in asset management seems to be based on the notion that this would increase diversity of thinking on the team The irony is that the qualifying criteria for entry are exactly the same for all candidates: “must demonstrate strong mathematical skills and/or have a background in accounting or economics” When qualification criteria are so narrowly defined, this significantly limits the ability to acquire differentiated thinking

Our suggestion:

Asset management as a profession has a serious image problem in terms of attracting more women professionals We need to be able demonstrate that asset management has the power to dramatically change the course of the South African economy and people’s lives, that the role of “portfolio manager” is not as critical to success as the role of “solutions provider” or “research analyst”, and that the future of asset management will demand more professionals with backgrounds in development thinking, social impact, psychology and data-processing skills to provide that truly differentiated mindset that these teams require entiated levels of problem-solving, information processing and implementation combine with differentiated social experiences to contribute to a far more effective decision-making process

I don’t believe widening the skill set is sufficient to solve the problem. Unless investment managers and their teams across the industry genuinely welcome diverse thinking, backgrounds and skills and are ready to embrace a meeting of minds with women and other investment team members who have not traditionally been represented in the investment industry, change is unlikely to happen

Cheree Dyers, CEO of Prescient Investment Managers

We also agree on the importance of fostering cognitive diversity throughout our business We believe that this is best achieved by ensuring that we have a diverse workforce through our rigorous recruitment process, and empowering each person to use their voice and share their views We believe that combats the risk of groupthink in our investment process Our support for contrarian ideas is evidenced in the practice of blind voting ahead of research meetings to seek out differentiated views, and our biannual “minority view” days, which specifically seek to challenge prevailing portfolio positions Individuals expressing minority views are celebrated for thinking differently

– Coronation Fund Managers

It is concerning that women seem to be predominantly stuck in investment support roles or investment analysis roles, despite many studies showing that diversity can only improve decision-making I found the point made about women needing to be trained in navigating power dynamics to be novel Mentorship programmes need to be aware of this

The point made about having a serendipitous moment that put women on the path to being a portfolio manager resonated with me Companies need to create these lucky moments for women in investment support and analysis roles through mentoring and deliberate sponsorship, by promoting young women within their organisations and ensuring their visibility in key client and stakeholder engagements simply do not stay in the industry long enough to earn the opportunity for recognition and promotion Reasons for this have typically been attributed (rightly or wrongly) to intrinsic factors such as lack of self-belief, ambition and drive among women to aspire to top roles, and extrinsic factors such as the construct of and envir-