According to a Wall Street Journal article, more women are pursuing careers in supply-chain, an industry long dominated by men. However, the gender pay gap gets wider the higher women climb in leadership ranks.
In a report by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), it was found that men in the sector earned on average 29% more than women in 2017, according to a recent survey of 3,000 purchasing and supply-chain professionals.
The gulf was wider at high-level positions, where there are fewer women generally, and among workers with the most experience. For example, men who had been in supply-chain for 15 to 19 years earned 48% more than their female cohorts, ISM found.
In the same report, Abe Eshkenazi, chief executive of supply-chain organization APICS, stated that women were given lesser opportunities to advance their careers even though they perform at the same level as men with the same job titles and expectations.
Supply-chain jobs used to focus on operations but in the recent years, they have been moving towards including more financial planning, data analysis and information technology roles.
Additionally, the pay in this sector is increasing as companies look for more aggressive management of their supply-chains to offset rising production and freight expenses.
Robert Hanfield, a professor of supply-chain management and executive director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative at North Carolina State University’s Poole College of Management, expressed to the Wall Street Journal that the supply-chain industry is becoming better suited for women
According to him, this is because it involves identifying opportunities, thinking strategically, and working collaboratively. Women now account for about 40% of the school’s MBA candidates focused on supply-chain, up from about 35% in past years.