Gartner 2024 Report: Women in Supply Chain Progress Slows
A new Gartner survey, conducted in partnership with AWESOME, reveals that women’s representation in supply chain roles has reached a standstill.
For years, the narrative around women in the supply chain has been one of slow but steady progress. But a new report from Gartner throws cold water on that idea, revealing our momentum has hit a wall.
The latest Women in Supply Chain Survey shows that women now make up 40% of the supply chain workforce. At first glance, that number might not seem alarming. But look closer, and you’ll see it marks a worrying one-point decline from 2023, the first sign that the hard-won gains of previous years are starting to reverse.
What’s Causing the Loss of Momentum?
The optimism that characterised past reports has been replaced by a plateau. Gartner points to three key areas where effort has slipped:
The Accountability Gap: Here’s a head-scratcher. While 70% of supply chain organisations say they have goals to increase women in leadership, only 29% actually tie those goals to management performance reviews. That’s a four-point drop from last year. In simple terms, we’re setting goals but not holding anyone accountable for achieving them. It’s like having a target with no one responsible for hitting it.
Leadership Taking a Back Seat: Many Chief Supply Chain Officers (CSCOs) have stepped back from personally championing diversity and inclusion, often delegating the entire effort to HR. While this is a crucial partner, the shift has weakened ownership at the top. Lasting change needs a leader’s visible commitment; without it, initiatives lose steam and results slow to a crawl.
Pay Equity is Slipping Off the Agenda: Fair pay is a cornerstone of inclusion, yet it’s losing focus. The survey found that fewer companies have active plans to close gender pay gaps, and more are openly admitting they have no plans to address the issue at all. This sends a terrible message about an organisation’s commitment to equity.
The African Context
While the global picture shows a stall, the narrative across Africa is a complex tapestry of significant challenges and remarkable resilience.
Women professionals in Africa face the same core issues identified by Gartner, often amplified by local contexts:
The Accountability Gap is Global: The lack of formal accountability for diversity goals is a universal problem. In many African markets, where formal corporate structures may still be developing, the mechanisms to tie leadership performance to gender diversity can be even weaker.
Pay Equity is a Pressing Concern: The global decline in focus on pay equity is deeply concerning for African women professionals. The gender pay gap remains a persistent issue worldwide, and economic disparities in many African nations can make this an even more significant burden.
Structural and Cultural Hurdles: Beyond the Gartner findings, women in many African supply chains often contend with additional barriers, including limited access to financing for female entrepreneurs, deeply ingrained cultural biases, and infrastructural challenges that can make balancing work and family life particularly difficult.
The Path Forward: Reigniting Progress
The report is a clear warning: without renewed action, expect more stagnation, or even further decline, in 2025. To get back on track, CSCOs and other leaders need to get personally involved. Here are Gartner’s key recommendations:
Make Goals Meaningful: Embed gender diversity targets into leadership scorecards. What gets measured, and rewarded, gets done.
Develop Inclusive Leaders: Invest in training that builds inclusive leadership skills and focus on supporting women at the middle and lower levels of the organisation, where the pipeline often leaks.
Tackle Bias Head-On: Reduce unconscious bias in hiring and promotions. One large grocery retailer used scenario-based video training to help leaders recognise exclusive behaviours in their own teams, leading to tangible improvements in fairness.
Prioritise Pay Equity: This is non-negotiable. Gartner’s data shows that compensation is the #1 factor driving people to both join and leave a supply chain role. Yet, only 34% of employees are satisfied with their pay. Failing to address this directly hurts your ability to attract and retain top talent, particularly women.
The Bottom Line
This isn’t just a “diversity issue”; it’s a business and talent issue. Ignoring pay equity and dialling back on flexibility doesn’t just harm your company’s reputation; it weakens the entire supply chain talent pipeline. And as Gartner concludes, women are disproportionately affected.
The message is clear: it’s time for supply chain leaders to recommit. By putting inclusion, accountability, and fairness back at the top of the agenda, we can rebuild momentum and create a more robust, equitable, and successful supply chain for everyone.
