Challenges to Women s Leadership Role and Cross-Cultural Communication in Corporate Career Success in South Africa

Abstract

Women leadership in many corporate organisations are few and this is largely because of male domination. It is a growing perception of unexploited women’s leadership competence and talents in a cross-cultural corporate environment. Using a desktop research approach, this paper collected its data primarily through secondary sources and analyses them based on content, this research shows the rate of women’s low representation in most nation’s parliaments globally, which has significantly increased from 11.8% in the last two decades, precisely from 1998 to 17.8% in 2008 to 23.5 per cent in 2018. Using a crosscultural approach, women are seen to be representatively smaller with meaningful impact, rather than the few individuals, it is not to state the falling short of women’s representation in a leadership position in South Africa.

The influence of culture and gender differences in communication: society’s perception

“…Therefore, in general, "specific qualities should be taken into account, such as the ability to give birth, the relationship with nature, diffuse sexuality and pacifism" (Melchiorre et al, 2004). Makhutla et al (2021) avers that any African countries are likely to face unique leadership challenges compared to their western counterparts, such as those linked to the effects of colonial rule, poverty, internal unrest, and uncertainty of socio-economic opportunities. Furthermore, the diverse cultural challenges, oppression, corruption, poor public health such as HIV/AIDS and maternal mortality are disparities that continually plague society.…”