Women in Supply Chain: Gartner Reveals Limited Progress

One might imagine that progress in terms of female supply chain representation would continue in a positive direction. 

However, according to a survey carried out by Gartner in in collaboration with AWESOME, progress has stalled, with women representing 40% of the supply chain workforce – down 1% on 2023. 

The consulting giant's ninth annual Women in Supply Chain survey uncovered a need for Chief Supply Chain Officers to recommit to goals, inclusive leadership and accountability to ensure gains from previous years are not erased.

Here, Dana Stiffler, VP and Distinguished Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, discusses the 2024 findings as well as strategies CSCOs should adopt to improve attraction, development, promotion and retention of women within their organisations.

After strong gains last year, the 2024 survey points to progress stalling in female supply chain representation. What's halting momentum?

For 2024, we anticipated momentum would continue and women’s representation in supply chain would increase. We expected more ambitious commitments, stronger supply chain leadership and greater accountability.

Instead, the percentage of women in the supply chain workforce and across all levels has remained roughly the same, ticking down one percentage point to 40% since 2023. This is being driven by three primary factors:

• Lack of formal goals: While 70% of supply chain organisations have an objective or goal to increase the number of women leaders, only 29% have direct accountability for this goal on their management scorecards. This is a decrease of four percentage points from 2023.
• CSCOs aren’t leading their own initiatives: This year’s results point to a distinct shrinking of direct supply chain leadership engagement and action. CSCOs are relying more on HR to run DEI for their organisation.
• Less focus on pay equity: In the 2024 results, a lower percentage of supply chain organisations have a plan to close pay gaps and a higher percentage of respondents said they had no plans to close their gaps. 

How can CSCOs better attract and retain women in their organisations and avoid a decline in representation?

If decreased commitment continues, we expect flat or diminished progress in 2025. To move the needle, CSCOs must recommit to inclusion, equity and representation. This involves setting goals, running initiatives to achieve them and holding themselves and their extended teams accountable for results.

To improve outcomes across levels, leaders should prioritise inclusive leader development, followed by development of women at middle and lower levels, and reduce bias in recruitment processes.

As an example, a large grocery retailer designed a scenario-based tool where actors re-enact real examples of exclusive behaviours and their impacts. One scenario demonstrates how inequitable scheduling of hours may be more prevalent in warehouse and retail locations than at headquarters. As leaders reflected on these videos, they recognised behaviours they regularly witness at work and understood they are exclusive or unfair to others.

Lastly, addressing pay equity cannot be ignored. Gartner’s 2Q24 Supply Chain Talent Monitor research shows that compensation continues to be the number one attraction and attrition driver for supply chain professionals. It's also the indicator that employees are most dissatisfied with, with only 34% satisfied with their compensation.

Failure to demonstrate pay equity, combined with reduced flexibility in work policy, is degrading many companies’ employer brands, with women among the most affected. This hurts pipelines and puts supply chain performance at risk.

Representation of women in frontline roles is a bright spot in this year’s survey. What are the factors leading to progress in this area? 

In 2023, frontline roles were identified as an area of concern, with representation of women lagging compared to roles at desk-based jobs. It’s encouraging to see progress demonstrated by companies over the past year on recruitment and retention of this workforce.

This year’s study explored scenarios that have led to better frontline recruitment and retention outcomes. General employee engagement and work flexibility emerged as most effective (38% and 37% respectively), followed by investments in pay equity (32%), developing inclusive leaders (30%) and recruitment (31%).

Since frontline work experience is often a determining factor in promotion to senior roles, the improvements we’ve seen this year should mean that there will be more women leading manufacturing and logistics organisations in the future. Subsequently, women will rise to more CSCO and COO roles. When you see more women at every level in an organisation, it indicates that the employee value proposition (EVP) is more attractive to a broader pool. It’s a litmus test for EVP competitiveness overall.

Check out the latest edition of Supply Chain Magazine and sign up to our global conference series – Procurement and Supply Chain LIVE 2024. 

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