‘Sexist’ Telecom CEO Says He Hires Beauty Queens To Boost ‘Atmosphere,’ Says Women Have A ‘B**** Switch’


The CEO of one of the largest telecom companies in South Africa has been forced to apologize after comments he made during a recent radio interview were deemed sexist. Jose Dos Santos, CEO of Cell C, gave a radio interview in which he described how every woman has a “b**** switch” and outlined how the company hires beauty queens to boost the company’s “atmosphere.”

The Daily Mail reports that the CEO of Cell C, one of the largest telecom companies in South Africa, is in hot water for remarks he made about women in a recent radio interview. Jose Dos Santos gave an interview with CliffCentral in which he described how their corporate environment has changed since becoming a predominately female work place. He notes that the company started with about 42 percent of the staff being women and now employs a staff that is over 60 percent female.

The CEO says that women are in executive positions and that a large portion of their middle management are women. Dos Santos says we no longer live in a society in which women must stay at home. He says that women need to be in leadership roles and hopes in the near future a woman will be the CEO of the company, not a man. However, he says that women are different than men in that they have a “b**** switch” and that you can’t get between two women fighting. Though there are downsides, he says that women have a lot to offer a company, noting that they work with customer complaints better and are more tolerant.

He says that the company works closely with the Miss South Africa pageant by offering the top 12 women jobs at Cell C following the contest. He says that a large portion end up staying on staff after their internship. Jose Dos Santos claims that having the beautiful women on staff also makes the atmosphere as a whole better as the men on staff start dressing better and putting forth their best.

The CEO’s statements were immediately called “sexist,” but CliffCentral and Cell C maintain they are focused on empowering women, not stereotyping them.

One program that Cell C partakes in to empower young girls to be power women is the “Take a girl child to work day” initiative.

Cell C also works closely with the Miss South Africa pageant with the winner acting as a spokeswoman for the company as a whole.

Though the CEO was attempting to prove that Cell C was a company focused on empowering women, many felt his choice of words were demeaning and “sexist.”

Therefore, he later took to ECNA to apologize for his poor choice in wording.

“The language and the words that I used were totally uncalled for and inappropriate, so I have to first of all apologize. It’s clear that I offended many many people and I regret the words that I used.”

The CEO says that they bring in the young employees and give them space to excel. He says that many young women are simply not given the opportunity to showcase their abilities. What do you think about Jose Dos Santos’ statements regarding women? Were they sexist or is the company empowering women in a way that is unprecedented in the telecom industry?

[Image via Facebook/Cell C]

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