Why only 17% of chief supply chain officers are women?

 

It is being proven that women when taking  up leadership positions will help in improving company profitability.  Men and women function differently, having their own respective strengths , this implies that with gender diversity would bring forward better business decisions. So, why is the supply chain profession still struggling to attract, retain and recognize female talent?

It was found that 17% of the chief supply chain officers are now women,  meaning that there has been a 6% increase comparing to 2019 and it is the highest rate since 2016 as per a survey from Gartner Inc. Even though there has been increase the percentage of women that make it consistently through pipeline is very less. With this Covid-19 pandemic , Supply chains are playing a very crucial role even to keep the livelihood of many secure. This could be thought of as one major crucial time for women to step in and  take on the middle level and senior management positions.

It can be seen that the consumer and retail supply chain organisation have twice as many representations of women as the industrial organisations. One reason could be that women are less likely to have  a background in educations requirements needed for Industrial organisations, the chances that women are hired to this industry would be very less. Another significant reason could be goal setting, Consumer and retail industry is more likely to have a specific and definite goals with respect to gender diversity that Industrial organisations.

Although it would be easy to come up with percentages and statistics as to how less women are being represented in Supply chain , we can witness change only if some action is taken for it.  Ultimately, the main goal for organisations would be to have that commitment from the top-level executives to find and develop talent

 *Quotas

 *Promoting work/ life balance

 *Support career progression