Gillian Darko, chief of staff and director of strategy at Yellow Card.
While SA’s ICT sector and telecommunications industry is making progress in addressing gender disparity and empowering women to drive digital businesses, more needs to be done to support female professionals particularly in fintech, health tech and cyber security markets.
This is a key message to emerge as the country champions recognition and appreciation for women in August, Women’s Month.
Gillian Darko, chief of staff and director of strategy at Yellow Card and 2024 ambassador for Women in Payments in Africa, said this month is a call to be bold and empowered. “Being bold is helping to shift the balance in C-suite roles, reducing the disparity between men and women in business leadership.”
Darko added that, based on data reflecting the level of female representation in fintech, there is more work to be done.
“Women make up only 4% of CEOs in the fintech industry globally – a statistic that speaks for itself. Additionally, about 18% hold executive committee positions and only 7.7% are fintech entrepreneurs. These numbers highlight the significant gender gap in the sector,” she said.
While Darko does not have statistics that reflect the situation locally, she referred to her own organisation as an example of some progress being made.
“Women make up 49% of our leadership and 47% of our total staff,” she added.
Darko believes gender representation in the workplace remains a significant issue because of how societal norms and expectations often define women’s roles.
“Many women experience what I call ‘women’s tax’, which represents the compromises they face when trying to balance career ambitions with personal goals. I view this as the invisible cost women bear in the quest to ‘have it all’. It’s the price of balancing ambition with societal expectations, where professional success often conflicts with traditional milestones like early marriage, motherhood or personal time. Although society has progressed, the reality is that sacrifices are often necessary. Whether it involves delaying family life, juggling caregiving responsibilities with a career or facing biases that hinder leadership opportunities, the ‘tax’ manifests in various forms.”
Darko continued: “Women’s representation in the workplace is heavily influenced by these expectations, and as a society, we need to better support women so they can truly thrive in all their roles. For instance, we should reassess whether four months of maternity leave is sufficient and consider implementing workplace childcare options to help women effectively manage their responsibilities.”
Nomfundo Khabela, strategic relationships executive at Healthbridge, a provider of cloud solutions for clinical and medical billing, said according to GlobeNewswire, the global health tech market is projected to reach $549.7 billion by 2028, up from $180.2 billion in 2023, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25% during the forecast period.
Khabela added that Africa’s health tech landscape mirrors this growth, with a market size valued at $3.8 billion in 2023 and projected to grow at a CAGR of 23.4% from 2024 to 2030.
“This growth is fuelled by increased smartphone usage, improved internet access and the urgent need to meet healthcare demands for the continent’s rapidly growing youth population,” said Khabela. “Yet, the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields limits the diversity of ideas and perspectives in developing health technologies to meet this demand.”
Nomfundo Khabela, strategic relationships executive at Healthbridge.
Khabela’s advice to young women is that there is no single pathway to success in health technology and it is important that they embrace resilience, follow curiosity and never lose sight of the profound difference compassionate and value-driven care can make to communities.
“You don’t have to follow a conventional path to make a meaningful difference. Ask questions and let your curiosity guide you; and never underestimate the power of leading with empathy and purpose.”
Khabela would like to see more women, especially Black and disadvantaged women, becoming systems engineers, programmers and data analysts.
“It’s not a lack of skill that is holding them back, but a lack of exposure,” she added.
Julie Noizeux Inder, cyber security specialist at Fortinet, highlighted a paradox in society: while the country celebrates the increasing digital empowerment of women and the increased opportunities, digital dangers have also multiplied.
“From my perspective, many of the risks associated with the digital realm are increasingly directed at women. This is by no means because women are inherently easier targets, but because, much like in physical society, they are disproportionately targeted by malicious actors.”
According to Inder, in the physical world, women still face startling levels of inequality, despite years of campaigning.
Studies indicate that South African women still earn between 23% and 35% less than men, further contributing to economic insecurity for women and perpetuating inequality, she said.
The 2023/24 Victims of Crime Survey found that 46% of respondents had experienced gender-based violence: 53% of women versus 38% of men.
Julie Noizeux Inder, cyber security specialist at Fortinet.
Women also report significantly lower feelings of safety walking at night: 45.7% of women said they felt “very unsafe” versus a much lower proportion of men.
These threats and struggles disproportionately experienced by women don’t disappear when they go online, Inder said.
“Digital threats can manifest as online harassment and abuse, including bullying and doxing. They can involve the malicious use of AI and deepfakes for identity manipulation or reputation damage, as well as cyber stalking and online identity theft. Furthermore, advanced financial scams, like fraudulent employment offers or investment schemes, often specifically target women seeking financial independence or new opportunities in a society where they have long been denied these opportunities,” Inder continued.
According to Inder, phishing and social engineering tactics are particularly refined, with malicious actors often customising their approaches to exploit universal human tendencies but tailored to profiles that might disproportionately affect women.
“This can involve deceptive appeals for personal data or the promise of sought after financial freedom. The psychological impact of persistent online abuse or the financial betrayal stemming from a scam can be profound, undermining confidence and limiting women’s full participation in the digital economy even further,” she added.