Research reveals that, despite making up only 13 percent of senior leadership in logistics, women scored higher on 6 out of 7 leadership competencies over their male counterparts, a survey by organisational development company Novosensus revealed. 

These competencies include being empathetic, giving clearer direction and more constructive feedback, being more trustworthy, and enabling their people to feel confident. 

“Gender equality is a strategic business issue, not a nice-to-have corporate social responsibility project. We need to be concrete about accelerating female talent into leadership positions, not with quotas, but by realising the business opportunities in equality, diversity of thought, and inclusive behaviors,” said Henrik Kofod-Hansen, Co-founder, Novosensus.. 

Released in a white paper, the findings also highlight the challenges faced by women in the logistics industry. 

• Women often miss a sense of being valued, appreciated and recognised at work, scoring their employee experience 10 percent lower than male peers. 
• Women are not treated equally by their leaders, and rate their “experience of their leaders” 19 percent lower than the opposite sex. 
• Women believe less in themselves and their abilities, and report 15 percent lower self-efficacy and 22 percent lower optimism than men. 

Novosensus believes gender equality can make organisations and businesses better. 

“Cultures become more open, creativity flourishes, collaboration is better and performance is higher. But most organizations are far from having a balance and they struggle with absurdly imbalanced workforces. We need to make equality, diversity and inclusion the new normal,” explained Kofod-Hansen. 

Novosensus surveyed over 1,800 leaders from the supply chain management, shipping, logistics, and forwarding industries, asking them to rate work experiences about leadership, experience at work, and experience of their leaders for the research. 

Singapore-based Novosensus works with companies worldwide to drive organisational change, team development, and leadership growth through training, coaching and business consultancy. 

The white paper on How Gender Balance Makes Business Better is available for download at novosensus.org/research