Kgomotso Moalusi starts her morning routine by meticulously laying out her pre-planned business outfit.
If need be, she’ll give her blouse a quick iron before starting her hour-long grooming regimen with a shower. She matches her attire with a timeless leather handbag, applies make-up, chooses her accessories and finishes off the look with a bold pair of red heels.
“It’s a lot to maintain,” says Moalusi, a 33-year-old Business Director at Vuma Reputation Management in Johannesburg, but this detailed ensemble is the bare minimum to be a professional in corporate South Africa.
From corporate clothing to being well-groomed, you need to look the part in a white-collar environment, and pay for it, which, for the sake of this article, we could call ‘the businesswoman tax’.
It’s a tax women pay in many ways, from the wage gap to pricey toiletries and the luxury tax on tampons. Added to this is the need to manage stress in a high-pressure work environment, and often the expenses of hiring staff to look after the family while working nine to five, and traveling the world.
The consequences of these multi-layered, subtle and institutionalized penalties are manifold – and most have a real and measurable financial burden on South Africa’s businesswomen and professionals.
Nicole Davidson feels the seemingly superficial – but very real – pressure of dressing appropriately as an attorney and director at the firm, MED Attorneys.
“There’s an expectation on female professionals to look and dress a certain way, especially in court, where one is limited to black and white attire,” she says. “Even our skirts have to be a certain length, but I tend to blur the lines and am quite bold with color.”
Moalusi agrees: “A full corporate wardrobe is a lot to maintain.”
Every item, from underwear to coats, needs to look neat and professional – and this includes accessorizing too. Handbags, shoes, and jewelry all form part of the businesswoman’s wardrobe.
Ann Pierce, founder of PhotoFeeler, a site that crowdsources first impressions from LinkedIn photos, writes in xoJane: “As they stand, I would define the ambiguous rules of traditional professional dress for women this way: a woman must wear a version of the popular menswear (1), and it must fit her in a way that is feminine (2), without being sexually appealing (3).”
An outfit, indeed, can say a lot and dressing appropriately is a tricky and expensive minefield to navigate.
“You’re a brand wherever you go,” says image consultant Maureen Grobler, who dresses a range of professionals, from those cutting corners to senior management executives at FNB in South Africa.
“The impressions you give from your outfit, poise, and most especially your grooming are all used to categorize you,” she adds, and all play a part in putting you on or holding you back from the career track.
Comparatively, corporate men have quite a basic look; owning three suits – black, navy and grey – is enough variety.
Writes Pierce: “Menswear is neutral. ‘No-fail’ work choices such as suit jackets, button-downs, and polo shirts all look and fit the same.”
Moalusi finds she needs much more basic clothing, plus accessories like scarves, to give her look variety.
“If a woman repeats an outfit too often, that just doesn’t fly,” she says, “But a guy can wear the same navy suit all week and no one will know the difference.”
She has enough clothes to mix, match, tweak and accessorize so an outfit isn’t repeated in a three-week cycle.
“It’s quite challenging to put together a full corporate wardrobe,” she says. “The ‘businesswoman tax’ puts you under huge pressure. I wouldn’t be taken seriously if I didn’t look the way I do.”
A savvy tactic, in the long run, is to invest in some timeless pieces. For example, instead of buying a variety of ‘plastic’ handbags that peel, Grobler recommends buying a leather handbag that has serious longevity, and high quality shoes of a similar nature.
“Not all women can afford this ‘businesswoman tax’,” says Grobler.
Davidson, for this reason, buys statement pieces, like locally-made Missibaba handbags that range in price from R3,500 ($260) to R9,250 ($687) for a tote.
A professional look is complete with the right shoes – and most women spend a small fortune on them. As Pierce explains in xoJane, “Wearing flats is often seen as sloppy and unprofessional for a woman, despite the fact that she is better able to physically function this way. At least a small heel is required to denote formality, but a too-high heel can become defamatory.”
On top of all this, there’s the need to be immaculately groomed. From hair (dyed, natural, straightened or braided) to toes (perfectly gelish-ed), there’s a cost every inch of the way.
Women who wear makeup are generally seen as more competent – and the reverse if she wears too much.
According to comparisons done by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, male and female versions of the same toiletry products vary significantly in price: out of the 800 examined, female products cost 7% more on average.
The tax on tampons is an additional financial burden. Whereas items like condoms are subsidized by the government, tampons and sanitary pads have a 14% price hike.
Though not the case for all professionals, many have to juggle children and family responsibilities too. Davidson says she depends on a full-time nanny to assist with her little ones, and that many of her friends with older children need stay-at-home help, and an au-pair to fetch the older children from school.
The Working Mothers Expo, launching from 4-6 November at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, uses the hashtag #TheJuggleIsReal; many working mothers feel significant pressure in maintaining a home and their work place to full capacity. A less measurable burden is the anxiety.
“The culture expectations of women are mirrored in the workplace,” says Johannesburg-based clinical psychologist Richard Middleton, who sees a fair amount of female executives in his offices.
“Women tend to be raised in a certain way, and a lot of women are expected to bear the emotional burden in the workplace and home, and take responsibility often without complaining or asking for help. This growing workload is unsustainable and inevitably when there’s burnout a lot of women feel guilty for not being able to handle this.”
Then there is the constant, oppressive burden of the wage gap. Dr Mark Bussin, Executive Committee Member at the South African Reward Association (SARA) and Chairperson, 21st Century Pay Solutions, works with a management consulting company that surveyed 700 companies and over 900 positions.
“Based on this huge database, we discovered that there’s a 15% average wage gap based on the median salary,” he says. Though this 15% is pretty consistent globally, South Africa is making real progress combating this with the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act.
The ‘businesswoman tax’ is insidious, and ripples through every aspect of the corporate woman’s life, holding long-term repercussions from paying back student debt to saving for retirement, paying off investments like property, and more. The combination of a lower salary with higher overall expenses and high expectations – being the immaculately-dressed professional and the perfect mother and partner – leads to emotional stress and burnout. Hopefully, awareness and governmental intervention, like the Equality Act, will continue making inroads into these inequalities.

shutterstock_172572884

From Nails To Nannies:  The Price Women Pay

A long trek through the parched mopane woodlands of Koakoland, in northwest Namibia, takes me to Otjikandero village, where I get a glimpse of Himba lifestyle. What impresses me is the cleanliness of the circular village, surrounded by the veld in an idyllic setting. Most Himba villages offer such visits for a small sum of money, like the Masaai of Tanzania do. This has helped them lead a sustainable lifestyle seen nowhere else.
These pastoral people live in communities of less than a hundred people. Himba women are known for smearing themselves with otjize, a paste of butter, fat and red ochre giving their skin and hair a reddish hue whilst also protecting them from the sun. The skin presumably symbolizes the color of the earth and of blood.
My guide during my 3,000 mile travel through southern Africa is a young lady from Cape Town. The Himba teenagers connect with her at a personal level. They touch her white face and feel her straight hair, while I am equally fascinated by their wonderful headdresses and ochre complexion.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29624 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-074-075-Namibia-004-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-074-075-Namibia-004-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-074-075-Namibia-004-600x398.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-074-075-Namibia-004-768x510.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-074-075-Namibia-004.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Whereas the very young girls have braided hair falling in front of their faces, at the onset of puberty, they wear longer plaits loosely around the head. I am also told the hair is used as a veil to hide their shyness during those years. After puberty, the girls partake in a special ceremony, when their hair is washed and they are given the traditional ekori headdress made from tanned goatskin. After marriage, all women wear the erembe headdress, made from the skin of a goat’s head and fastened by leather thongs. They also wear hair extensions adorned with goat skin.
Bath Huts
Every Himba village has a ‘bath hut’ where women take turns to ‘smoke’ themselves with aromatic herbs. I am given the privilege to see one such demonstration. A young girl waves a small coal stove containing the smoke of aromatic herbs under her elaborate headdress for several minutes, then covering herself with a towel, and also smoking her torso and lower body parts. She then rubs herself with the otjize paste and emerges from the bath hut looking transformed.
The Himbas spend considerable time adorning themselves. They wear beaded necklaces that they craft themselves. Their chunky copper and silver anklets prevent them from snake bites as they walk in the bush.
Using the body as a canvas has been a vital part of ancient life the world over. Africa in particular is home to some of the most fascinating body art: skin painting, facial scarring, magnificent hairdos, lip and earlobe extensions, to name a few. The practice of body art was mostly predominant in Africa and meso-American cultures. As ancient practices are vanishing everywhere, the west has rediscovered body decorations by way of tattoos and piercings. A torch has thus been passed from the ancient to the modern era.
Unfortunately, I could not photograph any of the men since they had left the village to graze their herds. The Otjikandero village has adopted a few AIDS orphans from neighboring areas and raised them in the Himba tradition. I saw several of them playing. They all sported single plaited hairdos on shaven heads.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29625" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-074-075-Namibia-005-199x300.jpg" alt="" width="199" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-074-075-Namibia-005-199x300.jpg 199w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-074-075-Namibia-005-300x452.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-074-075-Namibia-005-600x904.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-074-075-Namibia-005.jpg 680w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px" />
Before I bid farewell to these unique people, I visit the common kitchen and donate the 10 kilograms of rice that has traveled with me on a journey through souther

FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-074-075-Namibia-003

The Red Women Of Namibia

If I had a dollar for every time someone said they were moving overseas, I would be at the top of the FORBES list of 40 Richest Africans. If I had to give a dollar back for every time they returned, I probably wouldn’t lose much. This is a story of a girl, who after making her dreams come true in the United States (US), came back to Africa and brought her hair business with her.
Nyasha Zimucha walks into the room dressed in a blue dress, cream jacket and sky-high heels. Her accent could easily fool you into thinking that she is American, but as she talks of her Zimbabwean roots and South African upbringing it becomes clear that even accents can be deceiving.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2316" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_8734-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />
Zimucha was 13 when her family moved to Kansas, in the US. It was here where her interest in hair began. Every weekend, Zimucha and a friend would go to their local neighborhood to buy extensions and experiment with different styles. Later, it was her work that drew her closer.
“I started out in the entertainment industry as a dancer. I danced my whole life, from the time I was six until my twenties… I was an NFL cheerleader for the Patriots and so I had a lot of experience with wearing makeup and changing my hair for competitions and shows.”
After graduation, Zimucha moved to New York City with the Frank Sinatra song ringing in her ears. Referring to the Big Apple, Sinatra sings ‘If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere’.
“Fashion week was a turning point for me… I realized how hair influences fashion. Hair is the tiara of everyone’s fashion ensemble, whether you like it or not, your hair is your crown.”
With her laptop, the internet and only herself on the employee payroll, Zimucha started her business, Embrace Your Hair.
“The idea wasn’t about me wanting to get fake hair on women. It is a big misconception that hair is fake… the way I see it, hair is a fashion accessory,” she says.
She sourced the hair from a factory in India and started selling to a few people online. The business began to grow but she wanted more.
“I knocked on the door of every major fashion house in New York City and about 60% of them said ‘no’.”
Through a few connections, Zimucha got the opportunity to supply hair for celebrity designer, Zang Toi. The show was a success and suddenly Zimucha had celebrities such as rapper, Eve, calling for her hair.
“We went from having a small cubicle in Tribeca to a full size office on Seventh Avenue,” she says.
Business was booming and Zimucha was supplying hair to 30 stores across the US, but she wanted her business to make a difference in people’s lives. After both her aunt and friend’s mom beat breast cancer, she realized that hair was important. This was the inspiration for her charity, My Hair is Your Hair. A portion of the sales from Embrace Your Hair goes to My Hair is Your Hair, which donates wigs to those who have suffered from breast cancer.
“It wasn’t about making them cover their hair loss because they should be ashamed. It was about saying, ‘you’ve struggled enough, you’re going through the chemo, which can be physically painful on your body, and now I want to give you something to make you feel good about yourself. You don’t have to be ashamed; I want you to feel good.’”
Then came the move to South Africa.
“I wasn’t sure how strong the buying economy was and I wasn’t sure if hair was even big there… after doing a lot of research, I found there was definitely a market. I just needed to make sure that it would be financially lucrative and something that would make an impact nationally, instead of just launching a little store and hoping for the best.”
In 2012, Zimucha partnered with retailer, The Foschini Group, in an attempt to take advantage of their network across the continent.
“People still have misconceptions about hair and there is still a little bit of growing to do in terms of seeing that the black consumer and the white consumer can go to the same place and get the same thing.”
Besides the hair business, Zimucha has her hand in reality shows and music. So, how does the 27 year old manage to keep her head above water?
“Planning, preparation and performance are the three ‘P’s’ I live by. It is one thing to say something but to actually do it, implement it and go through with it is another thing.”
As for the notion of people leaving Africa for greener pastures overseas, Zimucha is proud to consider herself a global citizen.
“I believe that traveling is what makes you grow as an entrepreneur. If you think you are going to succeed without traveling, even within your community, you’re wrong. I think, as a world, part of the reason we are the way we are is because we all migrate all the time. If we didn’t, how would an American know what Chinese food was like?”
It could be the next trend: Africans leaving the so-called greener pastures to come back to the continent. If that is the case, a bet on them returning could put you on the top of FORBES’ rich list.

Tag: Hair

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

From Nails To Nannies: The Price Women Pay

The Red Women Of Namibia

The Crown Princess Of African Hair