Pretoria - The Women on Board Programme, which is designed to discover, train and deploy female management talent by strengthening the participation of women in boards, was launched this week.
The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), together with the International Federation of Business and Professional Women (BPW), Deloitte and Touche, and the United Nations launched the programme in Johannesburg.
Speaking at the launch, Director of Gender and Women Empowerment at the dti, Ntombi Shangase said a register of trained women will be compiled, where companies and other government departments can recruit women for directorships.
"For the dti, empowering women to participate fully in the country's economy across all the sectors is essential in order to build a stronger economy, achieve internationally agreed goals for development and sustainability, and improve the quality of life for women, men, families and communities," Shangase said.
She emphasised the need for the private sector to partner with government in an effort to advance gender equality and empower women.
Deloitte and Touche Director Anthea Scholtz said the training will be conducted on various aspects of leadership including governance, ethics, risk management, internal audit, sustainability and integrated reporting.
"We are taking a holistic development of existing and aspiring female directors in that all the trainees will have an unlimited year-long access to the e-learning that Deloitte and Touche provides to their senior management," Scholtz said.
