Southern Africa
Women in senior and middle management across Southern Africa
Women accounted for 48.21% of Botswana’s senior and middle managers in the 2024 observation, compared with 39.27% in South Africa, 32.92% in Lesotho and 29.59% in Zambia. The series counts managers in employment across covered sectors.
Sources checked
2024
Shared scale · 0% to 57.77%
2019
Shared scale · 0% to 57.77%
Switch the observation year. The comparison uses four countries with both years reported.
South Africa gained while Botswana’s share fell
South Africa increased from 33.26% in 2019 to 39.27% in 2024. Botswana went from 57.77% to 48.21%, although its estimate had reached 59.22% in 2022. Botswana still had the larger 2024 share. Source 1
Lesotho and Zambia were near their earlier readings
Lesotho went from 31.66% in 2019 to 32.92% in 2024. Zambia’s 2024 figure of 29.59% was close to 29.95% in 2019, but below the readings in 2020 and 2021. The annual observations show changes between those two dates. Source 1
Namibia and Mozambique have earlier observations
Namibia’s latest observation in this series was 48.24% in 2018. Mozambique had 29.08% in 2022, up from 22.15% in 2015. Their years differ from the 2024 comparison, so their values stay in the full table. Source 1
The denominator is the management workforce
The indicator divides women employed in senior and middle management by all workers in those occupational categories. It is separate from female participation in the whole labour force and does not give the share of corporate boards, pay levels or promotion rates. Source 2