Cell C’s top female management respond to CEO comments
The top female management at mobile operator, Cell C, have responded to seemingly ‘sexist’ comments made by the company’s CEO, Jose Dos Santos, during a recent radio interview.
Dos Santos said “gorgeous women” have an effect on male workers and that female workers have a “bitch switch”, during an interview on CliffCentral’s Leadership Platform.
The chief executive on Tuesday moved to clarify his comments. “As a CEO with a strong track record in the empowerment of female employees, in South Africa and in many other African countries that I have worked in, I am saddened that my stance has been taken out of context,” he said.
On Wednesday, Dos Santos received the backing from his female management in the form of the following statement:
“There have been moments in all our lives when we have said or done something we regret. For some the consequences were difficult to swallow while others escaped with a mere reminder to do better tomorrow.
“Yesterday’s media and social media outcry at what our CEO Jose Dos Santos said during an interview, prompted our response to this matter.
“As the top female management team of Cell C, we agree that his choice of words on a specific matter was not appropriate. However, what we know is that the public outrage he is facing for that regrettable choice of words has far outweighed what he has done for every employee in this company, particularly women.
“We believe in ourselves collectively as a team of highly-skilled and highly-capable women and we are rightly recognised as such in this company. What we know is that we have all had far more opportunities to shine and be our best under his leadership. If this was not the case, we would not be here.
“Too often people stand by and allow things to happen to good people; and while we know we might face some criticism for our decision to stand beside our CEO; we as women in leadership positions at Cell C cannot allow someone to be solely judged for one unfortunate comment, while what he has done to empower women, both within and outside the company, goes unnoticed.
“This statement is issued by our top female management of Cell C who are empowered and stand fully in support of our CEO.”
Dos Santos said Cell C – which sponsors the Miss South Africa pageant – also offers all Miss SA finalist an internship for a year at the company to assist them in gaining work experience.
“It brought a whole different atmosphere. Can you imagine you got 12 gorgeous women and you say four or five of them walk into your company – do you know what it does to the atmosphere in that company? The men dress better, they shave every morning.”
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