MHD COVER STORY
MOVING THE DIAL ON GENDER EQUALITY To attract more women to supply chain, the image needs to shift away from males dominating the industry.
The supply chain industry is characterised by an ageing and largely male workforce, but this is starting to change. Leading the way in this step-change is technology solutions provider Körber Supply Chain. MHD catches up with the APAC team to find out more.
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n 2020, Deakin University’s Centre for Supply Chain and Logistics (CSCL) released its report on the under-representation of women in the supply chain and logistics workforce. The report is based on extensive interviews with more than 100 women in the sector, making it the most comprehensive study of this issue in Australia to date. The research revealed that the sector has an image problem, with stereotypical views of male truck 10 | MHD MAY 2022
drivers and dirty warehouses that discourage many women from applying, and a boys’ club reputation that typically holds women back in their careers. While there is still a long way to go, there is a step-change happening in the industry and a number of businesses leading the way when it comes to gender equality in supply chain. One of the businesses in the APAC region is Körber Supply Chain. According to Nishan Wijemanne,
Managing Director APAC at Körber Supply Chain, recruitment practices have traditionally been onedimensional in this sector, which is holding the industry back. “Recruitment practices need to be much wider and strategic to ensure we attract a more diverse workforce,” Nishan says. “At Körber Supply Chain, we look behind the CV and dive deeper into cultural awareness, ambition and background. This has helped us recruit from a much more diverse background
