Women Comprise 41% of the Global Supply Chain Workforce


In a recent survey by Gartner, it has been found that women comprise 41% of the global supply chain workforce. Every leadership level saw an increase in representation by women, except at the executive level where there has been a 2% decline.
women in supply chain

From 39% in 2020 to 41% in 2021, the number of women in the global supply chain workforce rose 2%. The findings of the survey showed that the number of women in the supply chain industry in 2021 is the highest percentage since Gartner’s first edition of the survey back in 2016. This year, the survey collected information from exactly 223 supply chain organizations between February and March 2021.

To further add to the findings of the survey, Dana Stiffler, vice president analyst with the Gartner Supply Chain practice said “Contrary to other industries, supply chain’s mission-criticality during the COVID-19 pandemic has meant that many sectors did not reduce their workforce, but rather continued to hire and even faced talent shortages, especially in the product supply chains. This resulted in many women not only standing their ground in supply chain organizations but increasing their representation in organizations. We also recorded a record number of specific commitments and supply chain-led actions and saw existing programs starting to pay off.”

Must Read: The Future of Supply Chain Technologies

Now, let’s take a look at the top 2 findings of the survey:

Retaining Midcareer Women is the Biggest Challenge
According to the survey, the pandemic does not appear to have disrupted supply chain gender equality efforts. In fact, 84% percent of responding organizations from the survey stated that COVID-19 had no detectable impact on their ability to retain and advance women.

That said, 54% of the respondents said that retaining mid-career women is a challenge due to a lack of career opportunities. The second-most selected option was development opportunities. According to Ms. Stiffler, “Supply chain leaders who are serious about their gender equality efforts must create tailored leadership development programs and explore flexible work policies that cater to the needs of mid-career women.

More Organizations Are Setting Goals for Gender Diversity & Start Initiatives
From the previous years, we’ve seen that setting goals and having stated objectives are crucial drivers for improvements in the pipeline and other DEI outcomes. Well, in 2021, the proportion of supply chain organizations with any type of goal jumped from 64% in 2020 to 73%. That’s right! Of the 29% of respondents who stated objectives, 68% of them said that their supply chain organization had targeted initiatives focused on women.

Interesting Read: How V-Mart Reshaped its Manual Demand and Inventory Planning with Supplymint’s Automated Solution

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