Mimosa head of corporate affairs Elizabeth Nerwande has been appointed president of the Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines, making her the first woman to hold that office in a field dominated by men.
By Business Editor
She was elected to lead the mining body at the chamber’s annual conference which was held in Victoria Falls recently.
Nerwande has previously served as the chamber’s vice-president. She was the executive director of the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) from 1999 to 2003, chief executive of Zimbabwe’s trade promotion body, Zimtrade, from 2004 to 2006.
Her appointment marks a significant turn in the country’s history where women are still relegated to menial roles. A 2018 survey by our sister paper, Zimbabwe Independent, which analysed listed companies, revealed that the apex of corporate Zimbabwe was still a male-dominated arena, a worrying trend, considering that women constitute 52% of the country’s population.
Out of the 500 board members that oversee the 61 companies listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, only 80 are women. Of that number, 13 women occupy executive roles.
The numbers clearly illustrate how men still control the apex of corporate Zimbabwe, with just 80 women (16%) occupying seats on boards of listed companies.
Only 13 women (10,8 %) have an executive role. Shockingly, some of the companies do not have a single woman on their boards, a grave concern given the fact that women constitute 52% of the country’s population.
