Rashree Maharaj.
AECOM’s executive committee currently has five female members out of 13 – a record in terms of female representation at this management level for most companies in Africa, says Rashree Maharaj, AECOM’s marketing and communications director. She said this is particularly welcome at a time when 31% of South African companies have no female representation in senior leadership roles. This is according to the latest Gender (Dis)parity in South Africa report, published by Bain & Company. The World Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) Global Gender Gap Report 2016 highlighted that the economic participation and political empowerment gap between men and women remains wide, globally. Maharaj acknowledged that challenges remain in closing the gender gap across various indicators in Africa and globally, however, she believes that countries in Africa are committed to promoting the empowerment of women at home and in the workplace. While the WEF report points to a gender gap of 32.1% in sub-Saharan Africa, the region also has a high level of female participation in its labour force. In terms of this indicator, 11 countries from sub-Saharan Africa are in the global top 20, with Mozambique, Malawi, Rwanda, and Burundi having a higher representation of women in the labour force than men.
Female leaders on the rise at AECOM
Maharaj said AECOM Africa reflects this trend in that 34.5% of its workforce is female.
“We continue to work towards increasing the female presence in the business,” she said. “However, our efforts have to be seen in the context of progress in an industry, as well as in terms of career paths that have been associated with and dominated by men historically.”
Fadzai Nyamasve.
She points to Uganda, where Dr Bridget Ssamula has been appointed as managing director, as well as Fadzai Nyamasve, who was recently appointed as the strategy and growth director for AECOM in Africa. When Maharaj joined AECOM, she built the communications and marketing division up “from scratch”. In a statement, the company said: “Maharaj has clearly demonstrated her leadership expertise since joining AECOM in early 2016, when there was little understanding of what marketing, communications, and public relations was about.” “When I began my career at AECOM, I was informed it was an executive position. I found in the past that the word ‘executive’ is used for anyone in senior management,” she explained. “During my first two weeks here however, I was called into the boardroom to attend the weekly executive committee meeting. It hit home that my role at AECOM was not a position to be taken lightly.” To date, Maharaj has been nominated as one of three trustees of the inaugural AECOM Education Trust. This trust focuses on female tertiary students who are exceptional academic achievers, as well as role models and leaders, studying in fields related to AECOM’s broad scope of services and expertise. “I am excited because the three candidates we have selected for 2017 are incredible women who have managed to forge their own paths, and hence it is our privilege to make their lives a little easier for them,” she said. “Life is about taking yourself out of your comfort zone, and being committed to succeed in all that you do,” she added. “I have never been afraid of hard work, or to stand up to a challenge.”
