Bloomberg reports that SA’s push for female empowerment has led to an outperformance against emerging-market peers when measured by gender diversity in listed company boards.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) is the only exchange from a developing country to beat the Group of 20 average for female representation among directors of companies traded on the bourse, according to figures from Sustainable Stock Exchanges. Women hold 29% of the board seats in the top 100 listed companies in SA. That compares with an average of 20% on major G20 exchanges and representation of 12% in Japan, 10% for the Shanghai bourse and 7.4% in South Korea. South African women chair 11% of the companies, beating the G20 average of 5.5%. The relative success was helped by charters in SA industries ranging from mining to finance, that have set targets for gender representation, said Shameela Soobramoney, chief sustainability officer at the JSE. While SA’s ranking was an achievement, it was not enough, according to Soobramoney. The exchange was seeking to drive greater transparency around the issue through mandatory gender reporting, she said.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Adelaide Changole at Moneyweb

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page