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Overcoming the pale male syndrome

By Tracy Burrows, ITWeb contributor.
Johannesburg, 09 Mar 2001

"The continuing bias towards white (79%) males (81%) in Gauteng (65%) should be of concern to those involved in skills development who want the IT industry to reflect the racial, gender and geographic character of our population in SA, " says Gary Chalmers, MD of training institution Torque-IT.

"The survey shows a sector that is not reflecting the transformation of SA society, neither in race nor in gender equity," says Adrian Schofield, president of Information Industry SA.

Andries van Wyngaard of Prodyn Resource Consulting says that few companies, especially in IT, recruit people in order to get employment equity ratios right - they employ people for their skills.

Most of the time, employers need someone to do a specific task immediately, offering immediate, tangible value. They don`t have time to wait while people are trained."

He says there are a growing number of black people in the IT industry with the right skills and qualifications, and that any shortfalls in quotas will change naturally over time.

Simon White, joint MD of Forge Ahead BMI-T, believes the government will increasingly put pressure on organisations to comply with the Employment Equity Act and the Skills Development Act.

As I see it, there is no brain drain among black IT professionals. They actually like it here.

Mnutungwa Morojele, chairman, Siyazakha Information Technology

"The companies that never made an effort to employ black people will now be competing for a scarce black IT skills resource. To retain people is going to be a major challenge."

He says black IT companies generally employ and have the biggest representation of black IT staff. They are already seeing their key staff poached, as they cannot compete with the much higher salary counter-offers.

Mnutungwa Morojele, chairman of a new Cape Town-based black empowerment company Siyazakha Information Technology, attributes the shortage of black IT workers to education issues: "It is much easier to move into the IT industry from a well-educated background."

Morojele says there is still an imbalance in IT education, with children at less-privileged schools having little or no introduction to computers. This can prove to be a handicap for life. Some of the directors of Siyazakha have taken this issue to heart, and embarked on a Business for Schools computer literacy programme, which sees them asking corporates for old machines and finance, and setting up the computers in schools where they are needed. He says initiatives such as the Gauteng Education Department`s school computer literacy plan benefit more than just the IT industry in the long term.

Morojele says his company aims to emulate the Indian IT example, using local talent. "We believe in the transfer of skills from those who have them and may leave, to those who do not have the skills but have the aptitude and capabilities and are unlikely to leave SA."

While the local IT industry is suffering from a brain drain of white IT professionals, Marojele believes black IT professionals are keen and willing to stay. "As I see it, there is no brain drain among black IT professionals. They actually like it here. They tend to want to stay where their extended families are, and set up their own IT companies."

According to Forge Ahead BMI-T`s best estimate for 2000, there were about 5 000 black IT professionals in SA. However, last year saw the formation of over 180 black IT companies, up from 120 in 1999.

White has more black entrepreneurs are appearing in the market - posing a serious challenge to other businesses, which he describes as "still snoozing".

It`s hard for mothers

The 19% of female respondents to our general survey reported earning an average basic salary of R190 000 per annum as opposed to R230 000 for male IT professionals. However, without taking respondents skill levels and positions into account it is impossible to interpret this as an indicator of gender discrimination in the sector.

There is still a glass ceiling for women.

Janette Cumming, director, Paracon

But this does not mean discrimination does not exist. "Both the Employment Equity Act and Constitution insist that there`s no discrimination, but in practice it is happening," says Mark Bussin of 21st Century Business and Pay Solutions. "It could be because more males are in managerial positions and they quite wrongly assume that a woman is married and is not a sole breadwinner, so she can afford to be on the lower end of the pay scale."

Twenty-five professionals reported basic salaries of over R1 million, and nine of them were women. But for the average family woman it is tough climbing the career ladder.

"There is still a glass ceiling for women," says Janette Cumming, a director of Paracon. "Male managers perceive that women have got different priorities and that their families will come first."

Cumming believes the perception is wrong, and her own brilliant career as a mother of three small children and a board director of a listed company is a case in point

"Women do have to get home for small children, and they can still contribute and do the job. But it`s perceived as a lack of commitment to the company, so the company justifies the lower salary."

Women have to be employed by an "enlightened company" to attend to motherly duties and still get equal pay.

But single women are fine, says Cumming. "If you`ve got a career women who`s on the up and up, there shouldn`t be any discrimination."

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