Global Logistics HR Survey Series-women in logistics

Lacking support from schools and the logistics industry

A key concern for the industry is that only 27% of the logistics professionals think that schools and Universities are supportive in promoting the industry to women and only 21% feel that the industry as a whole is supportive in this respect. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that almost half of the professionals surveyed are not sure whether these institutions are supportive or not. This might suggest that the influence of schools and the industry as a whole on the longer term development of (young) women into the logistics industry is not taken enough into consideration when making strategy decisions for the sector.

The most important questions arising in this context are: What can be done to attract more (graduating) women to the industry? And also, who should play a leading role in this? The responsibilities need to be clarified for actions to be taken effectively.

Making the industry more accessible and attractive to women

More programs that ensure work-life balance, gender equality and better career opportunities for women are seen as the most important factors to make the logistics and supply chain industry more attractive to women.

Table 3: Ways of attracting women to the industry

There are no major differences between men and women with regards to this topic. The table above emphasises that the ideas on how to attract more women to the logistics sector are similar globally. Work-life balance seems to be the greatest issue, followed by a lack of career opportunities, which is in line with the findings showing that women are still widely underrepresented in management positions.

As outlined before the different parties active in the sector, such as companies, industry organisations, universities, etc. need to focus more on this issue. There are already a number of initiatives and task forces dedicated to this topic, such as the Canadian Logistics Institute's initiative 'Women in Logistics', which builds awareness of women as an underdeveloped talent pool and creates processes and programs to get more women into the sector.

However, more actions need to be taken to create a better gender balance within the sector. All in all, it seems that responsibilities for actions regarding this topic are not clear. Who should take the lead? What can be done and who needs to be involved? "It is time this topic is more openly discussed within the sector and more initiatives are started to ensure skilled and qualified labour supply for future years. Companies need to market themselves to better attract female employees and offer more support to women. Schools need to be more supportive in promoting the industry since they have a huge influence on the next generation of professionals. Industry organisations need to ensure that initiatives are started, discussions take place, and actions follow", says Justina Liow, Director of Europhia Consulting.

Source: Europhia Consulting Global Logistics HR Survey Series. April, 2008.

Europhia Consulting is an international recruitment and executive search company specialised in the logistics and supply chain industry. We have offices in Singapore covering the Asia Pacific region, and in the Netherlands covering Europe. For more information, please visit www.europhia.com.

Global Survey Partners