Anita Bosch

Anita has a PhD from the School of Management at the University of Southampton (UK). She is an Associate Professor at the University of Stellenbosch Business School where holds the USB Research Chair dedicated to the study of women at work. She also teaches in the organisational behaviour and leadership tracks.

Previously Anita held management positions in the private sector culminating in the Operations Manager of a consulting firm. She joined academia to head a for-profit unit at the University of Johannesburg, specialising in the training of trainers. Anita spearheaded unit standards-based qualifications at the university and was requested to setup the Human Resource Management programme which eventually grew from a bachelor’s degree up to PhD level and later-on expanded into certificate and diploma programmes. She served on UJs management team of the Department of Industrial Psychology and People Management for 19 years heading various portfolios, leading large teams. Anita also served as acting head of the department which serviced 8000 students and had 39 permanent staff members.

She is the editor of the annual Women’s Report of the SABPP which is in its 9th year and has published numerous public reports, articles and book chapters on women’s workplace issues. Her work spans the field of women in paid work including leadership, identity, structural inequality and policy. She served on the board of the SABPP from 2006-2009 and also initiated the HR Research Initiative of the professional body. She is presently a board member of the National Business Initiative (NBI), a voluntary coalition of South African and multinational companies, working towards sustainable growth and development in South Africa.

Anita received training from Otto Scharmer of MIT, the developer of Theory U, in Presencing. Her group processes repertoire also includes Appreciative Inquiry, World/Knowledge Café and Open Space Technology. She also served as the editor for Africa of the academic journal Equality, Diversity and Inclusion — an International Journal from 2012-2016 and was the lead researcher of the Women in the Workplace research programme at the University of Johannesburg, and is presently a section editor for women at work for the SA Journal of Human Resource Management.

She was recognized in the 2016 edition of Marie Claire in an article titled 16 women challenging SA for the better: Talking about a revolution, and is consulted on women’s issues for various public and media houses including the Mail & Guardian, 702 and Cape Talk, Women's Health, the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation and the Business Women's Association of South Africa for the Women in Leadership Census, SA’s indicator of women’s representation in positions of leadership.