Ariston Global Executive Urges Businesses To Move Beyond Fairytales Towards True Gender Equality

Boudine Henningse, Executive: Operational Effectiveness at Ariston Global

Gender equality in the workplace is a well-worn topic and many companies know the language of empowerment, but if we are honest, too much of this remains symbolic. True empowerment cannot rest on inspiration in August alone. It requires policies, pay structures and support systems that allow women to thrive without needing to fight against the structure itself.

Our internal conversations have been shaped by this reality. We are not trying to build princesses. We are trying to build parity. Referencing Disney tropes may feel playful, but they also reveal the truth. Most of those stories are about women escaping disempowering environments without any real support structure. Cinderella was not promoted. She was rescued. In today’s workplace, we need more than fairy godmothers. We need systemic change.

The pay gap is still widening

According to the World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Gender Gap Report, it will take an estimated 134 years to close the global salary gap between men and women at the current rate of progress. That means the average woman entering the workforce today is unlikely to ever experience true pay parity in her lifetime.

If we suggested the same timeframe for addressing racial income inequality, there would be widespread outrage. Yet gender-based disparities are still too often explained away as market forces, differences in negotiation styles, or so-called “pipeline” challenges.

What these explanations often overlook is that the playing field was never level to begin with.

Salary parity starts with policy

One of the key messages from our internal discussions is that performance is not always what gets rewarded. Confidence often is. Men are generally more assertive during performance reviews. Women, by contrast, are more likely to question whether they belong in the room in the first place. The result is not a meritocracy. It is a system that unintentionally rewards performance theatre.

To counter this, organisations need to adopt clear, benchmarked pay bands for roles. A job should have a consistent salary range, regardless of who occupies it. At Ariston, we believe in paying the position, not the person. This removes room for unconscious bias and ensures that salary decisions reflect organisational structure, not personal negotiation dynamics.

Maternity is not a business risk

Pregnancy is not a surprise. It is not a disruption. It is a predictable, human reality that businesses should be prepared for. Yet women are still overlooked for roles or assignments based on outdated assumptions about maternity and “reliability.”

In truth, it is far easier to plan for a six-month parental leave than to navigate the unexpected departure of a senior executive due to a medical emergency. Despite this, maternity is often treated as a liability instead of a life event that can be managed with basic planning and empathy.

The International Labour Organisation has noted that maternity discrimination remains one of the most persistent forms of gender inequality in the workplace globally. Employers must ensure that their leave policies, succession planning and team structures are built with flexibility and fairness in mind.

Mentorship is more than motivation

Many companies offer mentorship programmes, but very few are structured to meaningfully support women. At Ariston, team members highlighted the challenges of navigating impostor syndrome, family expectations and systemic barriers. Mentorship needs to be ongoing, practical and focused on career navigation. It cannot be a tick-box exercise.

According to McKinsey & Company’s 2023 Women in the Workplace report, women are significantly less likely to receive active sponsorship from senior leaders compared to men, which limits their career progression, particularly at mid-management levels.

If we want to shift women's trajectory in the workplace, we need to create safe, guided spaces that offer real-world advice on how to advocate for oneself, manage dual roles at home and work, and break through the subtle biases that can block growth.

Challenging stereotypes starts with questions

Sometimes gender inequality persists simply because no one asks why it exists. For years, men filled baggage handling roles at airports almost exclusively. The assumption was that women could not or should not do the job. Once questioned, the barriers fell away.

The same logic applies across sectors. There is no reason women cannot lead engineering teams, manage logistics or work in construction. In fact, in several Asian countries, many roles traditionally seen as “male” are increasingly being filled by women. As working environments evolve, outdated gender roles should evolve with them.

Even in areas like sport, the inequality is clear. South Africa’s women’s national football team, Banyana Banyana, qualified for the Fifa Women’s World Cup but faced pay disputes and far less corporate support than their male counterparts. This is not a skills issue. It is a visibility and value issue.

Equality must be embedded, not implied

There is often confusion around the term “feminism.” Within our internal sessions, several team members reflected on how the word is still misunderstood. Feminism, at its core, is not a rejection of men or traditional structures. It is the call for fairness. It is about creating environments where women are judged on their contribution, not their circumstances.

Being a mother, taking maternity leave or needing flexible hours does not diminish professional value. These are not weaknesses. They are simply parts of life that companies must be mature enough to accommodate.

At Ariston, we believe that equality is not about treating everyone the same. It is about recognising different realities and designing workplaces that are human-centred and future-fit.

The way forward

From pay transparency to parental leave, from mentorship to mindset shifts, gender equality is not something that can be solved by once-off campaigns or annual panel events. It must be built into the operating system of an organisation.

The real work starts with asking better questions. Why do we question how a woman got promoted, but not a man? Why do we praise female resilience while failing to fix the systems that make it necessary? Why are women told to lean in, but not offered the infrastructure to stand strong?

Equality is not a fairytale. It will not arrive through slogans or sentiment. It will arrive when pay is consistent, when leadership is shared, and when systems are built to support everyone, not just those who have always had access.