SUPPLY CHAIN NEEDS MORE WOMEN IN STEM ROLES

Digital transformation means there’s never been a greater need for STEM-qualified people in supply chain – getting more women into just roles will be key

WRITTEN BY: SEAN ASHCROFT

COMPUTER SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY SHOW THE LARGEST GENDER IMBALANCES, IN TERMS OF GRADUATES AND WORKFORCE FIGURES

Years ago, a distraught Alice Williams – an aspiring Royal Air Force member – was told, “You're too short to be a pilot”, before it was added that she “didn’t weigh enough”.

Williams – now VP of US Services

Excellence at Schneider Electric – says that having her pilot dreams dashed was her “first experience of feeling like the world was not designed for me”.

Not one to be deterred, however, she instead pursued a career as an engineer in the British Army, maintaining tanks, among other things.

“I had to drive them,” she says. “But I’m only five-foot-one so I’d have to take the backrest off the seat and sit on it so I could see out to drive.”

Such situations, says Williams, are exactly why women remain far less likely to fill STEM roles in military and civilian life than men –with STEM being the umbrella term used to group together the technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

STEM supply jobs still mostly filled by men

Some progress is being made on attracting women into STEM roles in computer science, engineering, economics, and physics, yet these areas remain disproportionately male.

Being such a process-heavy discipline, supply chain has always had a strong STEM contingent. The discipline has long been a magnet for engineers of all descriptions, and the more senior the role, the likelier it is that the executive has a STEM background.

For example, of the top three women in our Top 100 Women in Supply Chain 2022 publication, only one – second-placed Francesca DeBiase, CSCO of McDonalds –lacks a STEM background, having instead read business administration at university.

Third-placed Mary Beth Lang – Chief Supply Chain Officer (CSCO) of managedcare company Kaiser Permanente – has a pharmacy degree and a PhD in information systems, while top-placed Carol Tomé, CEO of UPS, studied finance, which many hold to be an honorary STEM subject.

At Schneider Electric, which specialises in digital automation and energy management, Alice Williams helps ensure excellence in functions including logistics & supply chain, project management, and health & safety. It is a hugely technical role and demands that Williams draws on her nine years of military experience, which, aside from engineering, includes deep knowledge of operations and logistics.

Not enough being done to redress STEM imbalance

At no point, says Williams, was she dissuaded or deflected from her STEM-dependent career goals.

US supply chain schools embrace STEM

The University of Houston is the latest US college to offer supply chain programmes that are STEM related. The Supply Chain and Logistics Technology programme is being run by the university’s College of Technology.

“We are excited to share this major milestone for the programme, as we become one of three undergraduate supply chain programmes in Texas to have this distinction," said Program Director Margaret Kidd.

According to Kidd, having a STEMrelated supply chain course follows naturally from the drive towards intelligent infrastructure and smart cities.

She added: "Texas is the US’s top export state, being home to Port Houston – the leading port in terms of tonnage.

"STEM-related classification expands student opportunities for scholarship funding, allows international students opportunity upon graduation to apply for STEM roles, and provides a competitive advantage when applying for internships and scholarships.

"If we want a nation where our future leaders, neighbours, and workers can solve some of the complex challenges of today and tomorrow, then knowledge and literacy in STEM fields is essential.

"We must also make sure that, no matter where children live, they have access to quality learning environments. A child's zip code should not determine their STEM literacy and educational options."

In front of a both live and remote audience at BizClik’s TECH LIVE London event in June 2022, Williams delivered a keynote, ‘Recrafting the STEM narrative’, in which she explained why not enough is being done to redress the gender imbalance in STEM roles, including those in supply chain.

“When we design, build, and develop technology it has to represent the needs of the entire population, and just a certain percentage of it,” she said.

Such as fighter planes and tanks with femalefriendly ergonomics, for starters. Williams stressed that challenges for women in the workplace go way beyond STEM inclusivity –that deep-seated workplace and societal biases need addressing.