Gartner survey reveals 17% of chief supply chain officers are women

While supply chain organisations deal with the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, they still pursue gender equality goals. According to Gartner, Inc’s 2020 Women in Supply Chain Survey among 177 supply chain professionals, 17% of chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) are now women – a 6% increase compared to 2019 and the highest rate since the first edition of the survey in 2016.

“The increase in women executive leaders over the past year is a positive sign, however the survey showed that women don’t consistently make it through the pipeline,” said Dana Stiffler, vice president analyst with the Gartner Supply Chain Practice. “Lack of progress is not something the industry can afford at the moment. Supply chain’s role in the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent recovery is crucial, with lives and livelihoods at stake. This is a pivotal time for many women in midlevel and senior management positions.”

Compared to 2019, there are proportionally fewer women at the vice president and director levels. In 2020, 63% of respondents do have active goals, objectives or initiatives to recruit women and build pipelines, but Stiffler said it takes years for this activity to strengthen pipelines. This dynamic also contributes to representation of women in the total supply chain workforce remaining unchanged at 39% year over year.

At 25%, consumer goods and retail supply chain organizations’ representation of women at vice president level is nearly twice that of industrial organizations (13%). One reason for this development is that 55% of industrial organisations prefer a science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) degree for senior hires, compared to 39% of consumer organisations. As women are less likely to have a STEM background than men, they are also less likely to be hired for senior supply chain roles in industrial organisations.

“Another notable difference between industrial and consumer/retail supply chain organisations is goal setting. Consumer and retail organisations were more than twice as likely to have formal targets and specific goals in management scorecards for gender diversity,” Stiffler added.

Between January and February Gartner’s 2020 Women in Supply Chain Survey gathered data from 177 respondents, primarily in North America. AWESOME partnered with Gartner to develop the survey and recruit participants. Qualified participants worked in organisations that have an internal supply chain organisation or in organizations where supply chain is a separate business unit, specialty or practice area, or those who are vendors of supply chain services and solutions. Organizations also had to have a minimum of $100 million in annual revenue.

Gartner Inc is a world leading research and advisory company and a member of the S&P 500. The company says that it equips business leaders with indispensable insights, advice and tools to achieve their mission-critical priorities today and build the successful organisations of tomorrow.