This presentation is on a study about the commitment of South African actuaries to the actuarial profession. The key research question is:

Are South African actuaries committed to the actuarial profession?

This question is important to answer as the demographics of the South African actuarial profession have changed greatly over the past decade or so. These changes include the qualification of the first South African born black African fellow in 2001 and a growing number of female fellows in South Africa over this period. The former apartheid regime in South Africa did not allow black people to get a good education in mathematics and thus prevented any access to actuarial studies for South African blacks. The current South African government aims to increase the participation of black people in its economy. Women and black men in the actuarial profession are part of members of the South African society who have the ability to participate meaningfully in its economy and help to achieve a substantial change in the racial and gender composition of ownership and management structures in South Africa, where the current composition is dominated by white males. The South African actuarial profession is no different, with 85% of its Fellows being male and only 4% of Fellows being black African in 2010. This is a big concern given that 79% of the South African population were black Africans and women made up 51% of the population in 2011.Thus, it is important to understand the commitment of minority groups in the actuarial profession in order to ensure that they can be retained in the profession, successfully progress in their careers and help to move South Africa closer to the ideal of an inclusive and representative South African economy. Results from this study will be discussed in this presentation.