Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
Black women navigating leadership advancement in the South African financial services sector
Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2025.
Saved in:
| Other Authors: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
University of Pretoria
2026
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867613509432377344 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author2 | Ruiters, Michele |
| author_browse | Ruiters, Michele |
| author_facet | Ruiters, Michele |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | © 2025 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
| description | Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2025. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/110414 |
| institution | University of Pretoria (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:37:16.787Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | University of Pretoria |
| publisherStr | University of Pretoria |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| spelling | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/110414 Black women navigating leadership advancement in the South African financial services sector Ruiters, Michele ichelp@gibs.co.za Freddy, Mandisa UCTD Black women Leadership advancement Adaptive strategies Persistent barriers Organisational support Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2025. Black women remain critically underrepresented in South African financial services leadership despite three decades of democracy and comprehensive equality legislation. This study investigates how Black women navigate advancement into senior and executive leadership positions, examining the adaptive strategies they employ, the organisational systems that enable or constrain these strategies, and the persistent barriers that remain. Using an intersectional framework, the research explores how race and gender interact to create unique barriers that cannot be understood by examining either dimension in isolation. Through qualitative, phenomenological methodology, the study conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 13 Black women executives and senior leadership, and 5 organisational enablers in South Africa’s financial services sector. Thematic analysis revealed that whilst Black women employ sophisticated adaptive strategies. Their advancement depends critically on organisational transformation beyond individual adaptation. Findings demonstrate significant gaps between organisational diversity policies and actual structural and cultural levels, despite both individual and organisational efforts. The study contributes to intersectionality theory by measuring strategy effectiveness rather than merely documenting barriers, providing evidence-based guidance for Black women, organisations, and policymakers. Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) MBA Unrestricted Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) SDG-05: Gender equality 2026-06-04T10:24:09Z 2026-06-04T10:24:09Z 2026-05-06 2025 Mini Dissertation * A2025 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/110414 en © 2025 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria |
| spellingShingle | UCTD Black women Leadership advancement Adaptive strategies Persistent barriers Organisational support Black women navigating leadership advancement in the South African financial services sector |
| title | Black women navigating leadership advancement in the South African financial services sector |
| title_full | Black women navigating leadership advancement in the South African financial services sector |
| title_fullStr | Black women navigating leadership advancement in the South African financial services sector |
| title_full_unstemmed | Black women navigating leadership advancement in the South African financial services sector |
| title_short | Black women navigating leadership advancement in the South African financial services sector |
| title_sort | black women navigating leadership advancement in the south african financial services sector |
| topic | UCTD Black women Leadership advancement Adaptive strategies Persistent barriers Organisational support |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/110414 |