+27123464430 admin@eapasa.co.za

8% at the Top: Rethinking EAP Support for South Africa’s Women Leaders

Aug 31, 2026 | Articles

When did a senior woman leader last book a session with your EAP? If you can’t remember, that silence is telling: only 33% of women feel comfortable talking about mental health at work, and around 60% of senior women report frequent burnout (Deloitte, 2025; McKinsey & LeanIn.Org, 2025). In a country where women hold just 8% of CEO roles in the JSE Top 200 (PwC, 2025), the few who make it to the top are carrying more than we see.
” only 33% of women feel comfortable talking about mental health at work “

The pressure is real, but it is hidden

Senior women rarely walk into our offices saying they’re not coping. The same global research found that almost 90% of women believe their manager would think less of them if they disclosed a mental health challenge (Deloitte, 2025).

For a woman who is one of very few at the leadership table, disclosure can feel like handing someone a reason to doubt her. So she pushes through, and our utilisation reports never see her.

” disclosure can feel like handing someone a reason to doubt “

What women leaders need from us

If we want to reach the women at the top, our programmes have to be designed with them in mind. Three shifts make the biggest difference:

  • Discreet executive access: offer direct booking, virtual sessions and after-hours slots, so a senior woman never has to explain her absence from a meeting.
  • Talk about what’s unspoken: of women experiencing menopause symptoms, 36% work through high levels of pain without taking time off, and only about one in ten women believe their manager would know how to respond (Deloitte, 2025). Menopause-informed counselling and manager training belong in every EAP offering.
  • Make leaders visible champions: when a respected woman leader openly endorses the EAP, she gives permission to every woman coming up behind her.
” only about one in ten women believe their manager would know how to respond “

Holding the standard: our role under EAPA-SA

The EAPA-SA Standards call on us to provide consultation “to minimise risk and to promote organisational effectiveness” (Standards Committee of EAPA-SA, 2010). That gives us a mandate to show leadership what the data says. Anonymised trend reports by level and gender can reveal whether women managers are using the EAP, and whether they’re using it too late. The Standards also place confidentiality at the heart of our work, and that matters most here. In a leadership team of eight, even an “anonymised” report can point to one person. Agree on minimum group sizes before reporting, and protect the women who trust us most. When we make room for women at the top to be human, we make room for more women to get there. That is what our profession does best. Bring your insight to the EAPA-SA community, keep learning with us, and help change what the top looks like.

References

  1. PwC (2025). Directors’ Remuneration and Trends Report 2025, as reported in Patel, S. (2026). “38% on boards, 8% in the C-suite: South Africa’s illusion of executive gender equality”. Launch Base Africa. launchbaseafrica.com
  2. McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org (2025). Women in the Workplace 2025. mckinsey.com; burnout figures as reported by Business Insider, “Women at the top are exhausted and burned out” (2025). Yahoo News
  3. Deloitte (2025). Women @ Work 2025: A Global Outlook. Deloitte Global. deloitte.com
  4. Standards Committee of EAPA-SA (2010). EAPA-SA Standards Document (Organisational Consultation and Confidentiality standards), as cited in University of Pretoria EAP research. repository.up.ac.za