Eskom Women Advancement Programme

Eskom Women Advancement Programme

MESSAGE FROM THE GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, ANDRÉ DE RUYTER

Gender equality is not just a goal, it is a fundamental human right, a business imperative and a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world. 2020/2021 was a significant year in the quest for Gender Equality, with the development and adoption of the Global Acceleration Plan for Gender Equality, which gives impetus to the quest for a just and equal society, ensuring that member states had a strong focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment, supporting transformation plans that are gendered responsive action, and giving inputs into system-wide guiding processes, so that they would take gender equality considerations into account.

Eskom believes that a sustainable future is not possible without gender equality and that men are important allies in achieving gender equality in a diverse society. Eskom has pledged to promote gender equality and provide a sense of belonging to women as articulated in the spirit of the Eskom Women Advancement Programme; a holistic approach aimed at “breaking the mould” that is based on perceptions of and about women that perpetuate misrepresentation of women in leadership and technical roles. Eskom commits to increasing the representation of women in leadership roles from 42% to 50% as articulated in the Global Acceleration Plan on Gender Equality.

Eskom also commits to addressing the pay disparities in line with the principle of equal pay for work of equal value as articulated in the Employment Equity Act, Code of Good Practice for Work of Equal Value.In conclusion, I salute men and women who strive towards a gender-diverse workplace. We all know that a diverse workplace has an overall impact on the reputation of the company, in that it creates a culture that employees are happy to be part of. We live in a diverse country, and if Eskom wants to appeal to a larger audience, we must aim to advance gender equality.

Eskom commits to support the HeForShe initiative, a global effort that seeks to involve men and boys in achieving equality by taking action against negative gender stereotypes and behaviours. Eskom regards men as critical aides and partners in achieving gender equality and commits to mobilise men in the journey on a global effort that seeks to involve men and boys in achieving equality by taking action against negative gender stereotypes and behaviours.

ESKOM WOMEN ADVANCEMENT PROGRAMME

During 2014, Eskom launched the Eskom Women Advancement Programme (EWAP), a holistic approach aimed at “breaking the mould” that is based on perceptions of and about women that perpetuate misrepresentation of women in leadership and technical roles. It is a deliberate attempt to influence the culture such that leadership support for EWAP exists, that the programme is inclusive and involves all key stakeholders, men in particular and that the stereotypes are changed. One of the hallmarks of EWAP has been a commitment to influence and change the gender landscape to focus not just almost exclusively on activities, but to also focus strongly on results. The following are the focus areas of EWAP: Women in Leadership Increase representivity of women in leadership positions. Women in Nuclear Build a cadre of women to fill critical roles at our nuclear programmes.

Women in Technical environment

Develop a pipeline of women to occupy technical roles and increase representivity.

Creating a conducive environment

Ensure that HR practices and policies are geared towards gender equality.

Partnerships

Partner with institutions of common interest to develop global leaders This strategy focuses on addressing the issues that hinder women in advancing into critical leadership and technical positions within the business.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Since its inception, the programme has achieved the following:

• Governance: EWAP has established a series of governance structures to deal with matters pertaining to gender equality namely:

• Establishment of the National EWAP Steering Committee, whose mandate is to provide strategic and tactical direction and oversight on the implementation of the Gender Equality Strategy through the Eskom Women Advancement Programme. The National Steering committee comprises appointed representatives, the Executive Sponsors, from Divisions, whose responsibility is to ensure gender equality and equity in the respective Divisions.

• Divisional EWAP Steering committees in the following Divisions: Distribution, Transmission and Group Capital and Generation

• Appointment of Divisional Executive Sponsors who are accountable for the establishment of the EWAP in the divisions, Provide oversight, assurance, and support of the programme in the divisions

• Establishment of the Gender Office in partnership with the Wits Gender Office, whose mandate is to provide innovative approaches, technical support, policy development, and capacity building to ensure that gender equality is central to sustainable global environmental solutions.

• The EWAP Annual Plan for 2022/2024 as well as the Gender Calendar have been developed.

• Eskom developed an ambitious Gender Equalisation Plan to address the underrepresentation of women and ensure that the 50/50 target by 2020. This plan informs the target setting and key performance indicators and measures process of the organisation. It has subsequently been revised to align with the commitment articulated in the Global Acceleration Plan for Gender Equality, which is 2026 as well as the Employment Equity Plan. The plan seeks to identify positions that arise due to attrition and reserve them for women at organisation level and divisional level. Stringent monitoring measures have been put in place to ensure that the appointment of women at middle management and senior management level is influenced by the Divisional Executive: Human Resources as well as the Assigned Employment Equity Manager.

• EWAP has reviewed Human Resources policies and procedures to ensure that they are gender friendly.

• Eskom has started the process to address gender income differentials in line with the Equal Pay Work of Equal Value principle. A total of 7 042 female employees benefited from the income differential and Eskom has committed to address the income differentials as a matter of urgency.

• Eskom Workplace Sexual Harassment Combatting Strategy is in place.

• Launched the HeForShe initiative, the solidarity movement for gender equality which provides a systematic approach and targeted platform on which men can engage and become change agents towards the achievement of gender equality.

• Trained 240 Women as mentors, to develop the next generation of leaders by giving beginning and mid-stage female leaders the opportunity to learn from their successes as experienced leaders.

• Convened Round-table discussions on pertinent topics of concern to women.

• Launched the Eskom Transformational Journey: A ‘Nickel of Democracy’ book which details Eskom’s journey on gender equality.

• Conducted a Needs Assessment for Women in the Technical environment. It Is envisaged that the initiative would guide the development of targeted interventions aimed at addressing gender-related challenges in the space.