How brands fail women in SA — what to do about it

By Charles Mathews. What’s the biggest thing marketers need to bear in mind when creating work for women? MarkLives spoke with five influential women in the local communications sector about the lived reality of females in a country where gender parity is?stalling.

“One of the greatest challenges that many women face is inclusion in the economy,” says Gugulethu Shabalala , Demographica head of strategy. “Many women in South Africa participate in the informal economy or engage in micro-entrepreneurship, which means they often face challenges when it comes to accessing financial services, including banking and credit?facilities.

“This is also true for women in the formal economy, with higher levels of education and personal income. Too few financial products are designed based on the realities and needs of South African women?today.”

The data on gender in sub-Saharan Africa isn’t encouraging. “Gender gaps in economic participation and opportunity have remained large and persistent,” the World Economic Forum reports in its Global Gender Gap Report 2023.” It shows that it will take 276.6 years to close this gender?gap.

Discussions need to include diversity

“There are many such stats and facts that can be further unpacked to illustrate the continued disparity and disenfranchisement of women in the economy,” says Daniela White , Clockwork strategy director, adding that discussions on equality need to include LGBTQIA+ — the letters used to group gender and sexual?minorities.

SA ranks well in the WEF gender gap survey, taking up the 20th position, but Stats SA shows the lived reality of females and their economic struggle in a country in socioeconomic decline. “Women in SA are more likely to be unemployed than men and are less likely to participate in the labour market than their male counterparts,” the government’s data arm reports. Meanwhile, WEF’s 2022 gender report showed that women are paid some 35% less for doing the same job as?men.

Then there’s the continental data that reveals that African women represent 75% of Africa’s agricultural labour force, and produce as much as about 80% of the food, yet are locked out of the business dealings. The same report, by the African Development Bank, reveals that the average for female ownership of business is a scant?35%.

Need to be supported

According to Cerina Bezuidenhout , Future Females Empowerment Initiatives co-founder and COO, women run successful businesses that build economies and need to be supported. “The ecosystem needs to acknowledge the need for different approaches — in networking, in being open and approachable, in searching for startups in other places, and for supporting ‘non-traditional’ business?models.

“There is also a big gap in small ticket sizes to help female entrepreneurs — not everyone needs US$500?000,” Bezuidenhout says, explaining that the requirements for funding make it impossible for most women to get any type of?funding.

Carla Gontier , Point Iconic strategy director (part of Point Group), says marketers still need to put women at the centre of their discourse. “I think, all too often, women are the target audience of a campaign, strategy or brief, yet they are not part of the conversation meaningfully. In SA, women form a core part of the economy, particularly in rural and low-income households. Far too often, women are the sole breadwinners for an entire family, plus the primary caregivers. We need to stop seeing women only as supporting roles in the economy but as active?roles.

“It’s critical that businesses work hard to address the issues, not just on paper but in a meaningful way,” she says, offering the example of the industry working to include more women in senior leadership positions. She says that more women need to be hired across the spectrum in SA’s?adland.

Also read on?MarkLives: #Spotlight: Female ownership & management diversity at SA’s?largest?agencies

“It’s about inclusivity and a concerted effort at an institutional level to drive this change,” Gontier says. “I’d go so far as to say it should be on every business’s diversity and inclusion programme. It is critical that we also consider that many women with children are supported in a meaningful way and allowed to return to the workforce in ways that might look different to how they would have looked in the?past.”

She explains that allowing women the freedom to be economically active while bearing the burden of being either the primary or, in some cases, the sole caregiver is vital to a thriving economy. “As marketers, we need to talk directly to women, not just about them or seeing them as mothers or wives or the ones who buy the things or are responsible for the household budgets. We must start seeing women as human beings in their own right, with desires and needs and as fully fleshed?humans.”

Gillian Rightford , Adtherapy MD, rightly points out that the empowerment of women is acknowledged as a critical growth driver for the economy, and says that education is important to ensure everyone understands this role: “Women play an important role in the country’s socioeconomics but also in creating stability for the youth. They are literally the mothers of the nation. And yet, they carry an unfair burden in this?space.

What women?want

“We don’t need mothers of the nation; we need parents of the nation. Too much marketing strategy romances and overplays the notion of the hardworking mom who wants a better world for her kids. It’s a human truth but we need to see the human in the story, not just the obligation she carries, mostly on her own, mostly with extreme hardship,” she?stresses.

“There is no formula on how to do marketing to women better,” White says, adding that any advice in this area merely reinforces the?clichés.

“We must stop considering women as a sub-segment or niche but as nuanced individuals who engage in life as uniquely and dynamically as anyone. We need to question the prevailing status quo around how women are portrayed both in the media and in?marketing.

“While advertising to women in recent years encourages women’s confidence, capacity, defiance and resilience, these are done in the face of crumbling support networks, increased violence, curtailed reproductive rights and increased financial burdens. Lastly, we need to move away from the ‘easy stats’ and ask the hard questions that surface the true realities of how women are engaging in the?world.”

It’s time to take action

White is spot on. As are all the women interviewed for this piece. The time for talking is over. SA’s economy is tanking, and what women need now is pragmatic support, finance, access to technology and networks, and trade. Brands that recognise and respond to this meaningfully are what women?want.

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Charles Lee Mathews (they/them) is a contributing writer to MarkLives, as well as the publisher and CEO of Inc.Africa. Previously, they were the founder and CEO of HumanInsight.