1 December 2015 Mainstreaming Gender in Health Supply Chains IAPHL Online Discussion Analysis
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December 2015
Mainstreaming Gender in Health Supply Chains IAPHL Online Discussion Analysis
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Contents Executive Summary ………………………………………………………………………………………………….5
Background ……………………………………………………………………….………………………...5 Methodology …………………………………………………………….………………………………….5 Results ………………………………………………………..…………………………………………….….6 Discussion …………………………………………………………………………………………………….6 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………………………6
Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………………………………………………8 Acronyms …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………9 Background ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………10 Literature review ……………………………………………………………………………………………….…..12
Women in humanitarian logistics …………………………………………….…………………12 Gender and logistics skills/performance …………………………………………….………12 Barriers and opportunities to women in humanitarian logistics ………………….15 What needs to be done? …………………………………………….………………………………16
Methodology ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….19 Design ………………………………………………………………………………………………………..19 Analysis ………………………………………………………………………………………………………20
Results ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………22 Thematic analysis ……………………………………………………………………………………….22 Theme 1: The impact of gender on health supply chain delivery …….22 Theme 2: Mainstreaming gender in health supply chains ……………….24
Theme 3: The impact of HR policies on gender balance in health supply chains ………………………………………………………………………………….27
Discussion ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………31 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..33 Recommendations for future research……………………………………………………………………34 Bibliography …………………………………………………………………………………………………………..35 Appendix ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..38
Appendix A: Detailed Evidence Brief for Theme 1 – The Impact of Gender on Health Supply Chain Delivery ………………………………………………………………………38 Appendix B: Detailed Evidence Brief for Theme 2 – Mainstreaming Gender in Health Supply Chains ………………………………………………………………………………….40 Appendix C: Detailed Evidence Brief for Theme 3 – The Impact of HR Policies on Gender Balance in Health Supply Chains ……………………………………………….42
Appendix D: Participant Responses for Theme 1 …………………………………………44 Appendix E: Participant Responses for Theme 2 …………………………………………47 Appendix F: Participant Responses for Theme 3 …………………………………………54 List of figures Figure 1: Results to the question: Do you consider women’s different skillsets advantageous for supply chain management? ……………………………………………………….14 Figure 2: Reasons for a paucity of female humanitarian logisticians ………………………15 Figure 3: Impact of Human Resources on Supply Chain Performance …………………….17 Figure 4: Ways of attracting women to the industry ………………………………………………18
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Figure 5: List of countries represented by discussion responses …………………………….22 Figure 6: Subthemes identified from theme 1 ………………………………………………………..23 Figure 7: Subthemes identified from theme 2, question 1 ……………………………………..24 Figure 8: Subthemes identified from theme 2, question 2 ……………………………………..26 Figure 9: Subthemes identified from theme 3, question 1 ……………..………………………28 Figure 10: Subthemes identified from theme 3, question 2 ……………………………………29
Recommended Citation: Steele, P., Brown, A., Kalungu-‐Banda, A. (2015): Mainstreaming Gender in Health Supply Chains, IAPHL Online Discussion Analysis
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Executive Summary Background: The field of humanitarian logistics and health supply chain management has remained the domain of men, despite a seemingly neutral gender balance, and even a tilt in favour of women within many NGOs (Tatham and Kovács, 2009). As such, the question of why there are so few women in health supply chains and humanitarian logistics has recently risen to prominence within the health logistics literature, particularly when it comes to the last mile due to the majority of beneficiaries being women and children (WISE, 2006). The topic was initiated by Pam Steele, the director of Pamela Steele Associates (PSA), a strategic consulting, research and training company dedicated to improving supply chain management within the health and humanitarian sectors in developing countries. PSA is a member of the People that Deliver (PtD) initiative, under which this project was completed. PtD brings together a whole host of international stakeholders with expertise in humanitarian logistics and supply chain management to offer opinions and experiences on this issue of gender. Discussions took place via the International Association of Public Health Logisticians (IAPHL), which provided an online forum of more than 3,000 members with whom questions of gender and health supply chain management could be posed and subsequently discussed. Methodology: In the period 7th to 25th September 2015, three themes and an accompanying set of 2-‐3 seeding questions were presented to the IAPHL community of practice via the discussion forum. Each of these was open to responses for 4 days. The themes discussed were:
1. The impact of gender on health supply chain delivery 2. Mainstreaming gender in health supply chains 3. The impact of HR policies on gender balance in health supply chains
Three experts were asked to prepare a 2-‐page content brief with a short personal biography, background information to the week’s discussion, a set of questions and suggestions for further reading. Each week, one moderator would take the lead in creating discussion amongst the IAPHL community on their particular theme. The moderators were also encouraged to engage in the discussions in order to ensure the conversation remained on track, to answer any questions and to promote the sharing of information. At the close of each week’s discussion, a summary of the responses was developed using the process of thematic analysis and this was then distributed to the IAPHL community.
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Results: With a total of 32 responses from 13 different countries, this online discussion captured a variety of viewpoints from individuals who occupy a range of positions within health supply chains including pharmacists, programme managers, senior advisers, supply chain consultants and programme directors. Several ideas emerged during the thematic analysis for each of the three weeks and these were then used to guide and structure the production of the summaries given to participants, and also presented in this section of the report. Discussion: Results from this study are aligned with the wider literature base which suggests that there continues to be relatively few female humanitarian logisticians in health supply chains, and this is particularly worrying given that responding to the gender-‐specific requirements of end beneficiaries is central to the overall humanitarian aim (Tatham and Kovács, 2009). Indeed, a number of IAPHL members offered personal experiences of working alongside relatively few women in their role as a male logistician, or being the sole female in a room full of men. This study also joins a growing body of research which stresses that the different skillsets possessed by men and women are perceived to be an advantage to the overall performance of humanitarian supply chains (Min et al., 1995; Lowe and Kroeck, 1996; WISE, 2006; Hoag, 2008). Nevertheless, barriers certainly exist to female participation in humanitarian logistics and participants in this research offered an abundance of examples which largely correspond with those mentioned in existing studies (e.g. WISE, 2006; Tatham and Kovács, 2009). In short, there is still a great deal of work to be done to change the attitudes of society in general, and also of those involved in health supply chains in order to see more women working as humanitarian logisticians – but at the same time, the discussions indicated that through cooperation and over time, this is not completely out of reach. Conclusion: The IAPHL online discussion forum has proved to be a useful site in which to engage the supply chain and global health logistics community on the complex issue of gender in humanitarian logistics. The forum discussions underlined the existence of a persisting imbalance in the gender of health supply chain staff, with barriers to greater female participation including the difficulty of balancing work and family life, as well as the general perception of logistics as a domain for men, being particularly troublesome. Organisational transformation has been argued as central to getting more women into humanitarian logistics and several participants in this study urge that codes of conduct need to be in place at every stage of the application, employment and managerial processes. It is important to understand that policies in the workplace that promote gender equality will not lead to immediate changes in the way women are viewed. But there are signs of positive change within some
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organisations and the field of humanitarian logistics needs to take note of these and work in unison to ensure women contribute their unique and valuable skillsets within humanitarian logistics. The underlying message of this research is not to say that women are better suited to working in health logistics than men, but that both have different skills which are needed if the most effective service is to be provided to the end beneficiary.
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Acknowledgements This activity was made possible by the co-‐operation of the International Association of Public Health Logisticians. Pamela Steele Associates Ltd. (PSA) worked with Dr Andrew Brown, the Executive Manager of People that Deliver (PtD), and Aggie Kalungu-‐Banda of BBS Consulting, who provided their collective expertise as moderators for the discussion. Dave Paprocki, John Snow,Inc. USAID/DELIVER Project and IAPHL secretariat who provided professional support to the moderators. Professor Peter Tatham, Professor of Humanitarian Logistics, Griffith Business School; Professor Gyöngyi Kovács, Erkko Professor in Humanitarian Logistics, Hanken University; and Dr Andrew Brown were extremely helpful in giving advice on the writing of this report. The report itself was written and produced by Katie Agius, PSA Research and Consultancy Officer.
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Acronyms BPharm Bachelor of Pharmacy CILT Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport CV Curriculum Vitae DBA Doctor of Business Administration DevAid Development Aid DevEx Development Ex DRC Democratic Republic of the Congo GB Great Britain HR Human Resources IAPHL International Association of Public Health Logisticians ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross INGO International Nongovernmental Organisation NGO Non-‐governmental Organisation PHC Primary Health Centre PhD Doctor of Philosophy PtD People that Deliver PSA Pamela Steele Associates SCM Supply Chain Management UK United Kingdom UNFPA United Nations Population Fund UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund USA United States of America WISE Women’s Initiative for Supply Chain Excellence YWCA Young Women Christian Association
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Background The field of humanitarian logistics and health supply chain management has remained the domain of men, despite a tilt in favour of women well in excess of 50% within many Non-‐governmental Organisations (NGOs) (WISE, 2006; Tatham and Kovács, 2009). As such, the question of why there are so few female logisticians has recently risen to prominence within the health logistics literature, particularly when it comes to the last mile due to the majority of beneficiaries being women and children (WISE, 2006). Would the presence of more women within health supply chains improve performance? What is the link between gender and logistics performance? What stops women from entering the profession? What needs to be done to address these gender-‐related issues? Please note that in this paper, the terms “humanitarian logistics” and “health supply chains” are used interchangeably. Existing research emphasises the valuable contributions that both male and female logisticians can make to meeting the needs of those impacted by disasters (ibid), and this implies that more needs to be done, particularly within organisations themselves, to change perceptions and encourage women into humanitarian logistics. This is a key aspect of ensuring that the needs of beneficiaries are appropriately met and that the logistics workforce at its most efficient and effective. Pamela Steele Associates (PSA) is a strategic consulting, research and training company dedicated to improving supply chain management within the health and humanitarian sectors in developing countries. It provides sustainable solutions to build in-‐country capacity at individual and organisational levels in order to reduce their dependency on external support. Further, PSA is a female-‐owned small business, founded by Pamela Steele in 2013. It is based in Oxford in the United Kingdom and works with international NGOs, the United Nations, and governments. PSA is a member of the People that Deliver (PtD) initiative, and this project was completed with key contributions from the executive director, Dr Andrew Brown. The People that Deliver (PtD) initiative is a broad coalition of organisations and global stakeholders who possess expertise in supply chain management (SCM), including international organisations, governments, NGOs, donors, academic institutions, technical agencies, professional associations and the private sector. Members strive for a world in which national supply chain workforces are planned, financed, developed and supported in a way that promotes equal, fair and sustainable access to the medical supplies and services necessary for optimal health outcomes. As such, the PtD mission is: “to build global and national capacity to implement evidence-‐based approaches to plan, finance, develop, support, and retain the national workforces needed for the effective, efficient, and sustainable management of health supply chains.”1 Providing a mechanism through which discussions can take place, the International Association of Public Health Logisticians (IAPHL) is committed to strengthening
1 http://www.peoplethatdeliver.org/content/vision-‐mission
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public health supply chain management by encouraging the professional development of public health logisticians. Members are brought together via an online discussion forum in which participants can post questions related to supply chains and humanitarian logistics and receive answers and opinions from experts and colleagues. At the time of writing this report, the membership of the IAPHL exceeded 3,000, drawn from more than 120 countries2, and this leads to rich, insightful and diverse exchanges of views. The online discussions which formed the basis of this research were designed to encourage interactions and debates from a number of different health supply chain stakeholders, all of whom have had different experiences that reflect the different organisations they have been a part of, and the various national contexts from which they originate and in which they are working. The results are perceived to make a valuable contribution to the existing limited literature on gender and humanitarian logistics, and they also serve to highlight the ongoing imperative that all humanitarian logistic and health supply chain stakeholders should work together systematically to develop and improve the numbers and capabilities of female field-‐based humanitarian logisticians.
2 http://iaphl.org/membership/maps-‐and-‐stats/
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Literature Review Before the findings of this research can be presented, it is relevant to examine the existing literature on matters of gender and health supply chains as it is from here that this project has emerged, and which it subsequently sought to develop and improve. Women in humanitarian logistics Whilst humanitarian logistics in general has gained increased academic attention, there is a distinct lack of literature which examines gender issues in humanitarian logistics and health supply chains (Kovács and Spens, 2009; Tatham and Kovács, 2009). This is of particular concern given that responding to the gender-‐specific requirements of end beneficiaries is central to the overall humanitarian aim (Tatham and Kovács, 2009). Indeed, the role of a humanitarian logistician starts with evaluating the requirements of both male and female beneficiaries, ensuring goods are delivered to address those needs, and guaranteeing all beneficiaries access (ibid). The gender of the logistician undoubtedly impacts upon all of the above, leading to mounting calls for a greater number of females in the field (Min et al., 1995; WISE, 2006; Silverstein, 2008). The link between logistics and gender is also to be found within the business context itself where issues of female representation in logistics, their career opportunities and their leadership experience lead to questions regarding the logistics skills and performances that are needed by each individual logistician (Tatham and Kovács, 2009). Evidently, the question of why there are so few female humanitarian logisticians, despite the majority of staff in many such organisations being female, demands further investigation to understand the barriers to females who seek to become logisticians. Successfully dismantling these has the potential to improve the overall performance of aid organisations, as judged by their ability to meet the needs of end beneficiaries. Gender and logistics skills/performance Given that the overarching priority of humanitarian logistics is to meet the needs of “end beneficiaries” (Thomas and Mizushima, 2005), a number of studies have identified a series of competencies which any “good” logistician should possess, regardless of their gender (Gammelgaard and Larson, 2001; van Hoek et al., 2002; Mangan and Christopher, 2005). Indeed, Sheffi and Klaus (1997) observe that “logisticians should be equipped to set up supply chains that not only respond to existing situations but also are able to change and adapt” (p. 18). One way of classifying the requirements of logisticians is under the terms ‘skills’ and ‘competencies’ (Bramming, 1998), the former referring to general, context-‐independent knowledge, and the latter covering context-‐dependent, experience-‐based knowledge which can be maintained by workers remaining on the job (Witt, 1999). Wouters and Wilderom (2008) go one step further and link the different skillsets required of a logistician to the overall performance of an organisation.
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However, to not explore the gendered dimension of logistics performance would be to neglect the positive differences between the skillsets of males and females which can be recognised as an asset to humanitarian responses. It is important to avoid pitting men against women in a contest of ‘who is better?’; rather, beyond the logistics literature, a growing number of studies highlight that men and women possess different skillsets and that it is a mix of technical skill, passion and perseverance which makes logisticians effective in their work (WISE, 2006). From a biological perspective, Goldstein et al. (2001) examined different parts of male and female brains and found that women’s brain volumes were greater in the medial and frontal paralimbic cortices, areas usually associated with problem-‐solving and decision-‐making (Hoag, 2008), suggesting that women might be better placed to perform such tasks within supply chains. Added to this, studies which focused on gender and leadership found that females are more likely to adopt a transformational leadership style (Bass and Avolio, 1994; Sarros et al., 2001), as opposed to a transactional one, with the former found to be more effective (Lowe and Kroeck, 1996). Min et al. (1995) also conducted a more practical assessment of how gender impacts on individual supply chain performances and found that situations involving mixed-‐gender interactions were more likely to “soften” the negotiation. If negotiation skills are considered to be significant for logisticians, a lack of female presence may have an overall negative effect on logistics performance (Tatham and Kovács, 2009). Further, given that the majority of beneficiaries are women and children (WISE, 2006), it is often more appropriate for female logisticians to be present in the last mile, be it for cultural and religious reasons and also when it comes to communicating with beneficiaries and forecasting to meet certain needs (WISE, 2006; Tatham and Kovács, 2009). An example of gender insensitivity in humanitarian logistics was seen in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 where “the distribution of underwear, bras and panties was carried out publicly, with embarrassing comments about which sizes were appropriate for which women” (Silverstein, 2008, p. 156). Not only this, but the distribution of sanitary items was controlled by male officials who gave them out one at a time, forcing women to go back repeatedly to ask for more (Steele, 2014). Further, and a particularly striking example of a gender insensitive response to a humanitarian disaster, was the purchase of poorly designed items such as translucent tents which showed when females were inside alone, thus heightening the risk of sexual violence (WISE, 2006). In short, gender sensitivity remains a challenge in humanitarian logistics and it is argued that this situation would be ameliorated by the presence of female logisticians who would be better placed to meet the needs of female beneficiaries. Surveys carried out amongst logisticians have also revealed clear perceptions that the skills of men and women are different and that those of the latter may be better suited to certain tasks. In the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals
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(CSCMP) ‘women in logistics’ survey carried out in 2006, of 915 female participants, 92% saw themselves as good planners, 66% as good at setting targets and sticking to them, and 94% as good at multitasking (CSCMP, 2006). In another survey conducted by O’Marah (2013), although small in scope, there was overwhelming agreement amongst both women (75%) and men (63%) that the natural skillsets between the two sexes were fundamentally different and, furthermore, the majority considered women’s skillsets as advantageous for SCM (see Figure 1).
Given that there has been a set of skills identified within the literature which are particularly useful to a good logistician, it is inevitable that these be viewed through a gender lens (Tatham and Kovács, 2009). If women are better at certain tasks, there is evidently a need to address the relative lack of females in humanitarian logistics. In short, there is a need for both male and female logisticians as both have key roles to play in meeting the needs of end beneficiaries by virtue of their differing skillsets (WISE, 2006).
Figure 1: Results to the question: Do you consider women’s different skillsets
advantageous for supply chain management?
Source: O’Marah (2013)
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Barriers and opportunities to women in humanitarian logistics
Clearly there is a distinct lack of female logisticians, although the reasons behind this are less obvious (Tatham and Kovács, 2009). In general, the difficulty of combining work and family life, as well as the male-‐dominated image of the logistics industry, have been cited as the key reasons (WISE, 2006; Tatham and Kovács, 2009). For example, in a CSCMP survey carried out in 2007, 48% of respondents list the conflict between work and family commitments as the main barrier due to matters including global travel associated with international supply chains (Trunick, 2007). Further, in a study conducted by WISE (2006), a comprehensive list of barriers to women entering the logistics industry was drawn up (see Figure 2). The results came from an online survey of logisticians in which there were 124 submissions, 22 of which suggested work/life balance as a reason for the lack of women in humanitarian logistics, and 17 which drew attention to the perception that the profession is dominated by men. Alongside these two key factors, the fact that the logistics profession is perceived to be an engineering-‐related field, and also predominantly made up of truck-‐driving males, is a further important reason cited for the lack of female humanitarian logisticians (Sohal and D’Netto, 2004; WISE, 2006; EP, 2007). Indeed, the field of humanitarianism remains wedded to the logistics title, in spite of an analysis of job advertisements which showed that humanitarian logisticians are responsible for a diverse array of activities including communications, security and administration (CILT, 2008), as well as the traditional role encompassed in a definition by Thomas and Mizushima (2005): “planning, implementing and controlling the efficient, cost-‐ effective flow and storage of goods and materials as well as related
information, from the point of origin to the point of consumption for the purpose of meeting the end beneficiary’s requirements” (p. 60). The culture of the country concerned, as well as poor marketing of employment possibilities on the part of schools and organisations, was also deemed important in explaining the lack of women involved in humanitarian logistics (WISE, 2006). Indeed, logistics education is an additional area in which women are underrepresented (Tatham and Kovács, 2009). For instance, just 20% of the students
Figure 2: Reasons for a
paucity of female
humanitarian logisticians
Source: WISE (2006)
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who had enrolled in training courses for the Certification for Humanitarian Logisticians and Certificate for Humanitarian Supply Chain Management by the middle of 2008 at the Fritz Institute were women (Macdonald, 2008). Further, in a study conducted by Euphoria Consulting (2009), less than 30% of logisticians regard schools and universities as supportive in encouraging women to join the industry. Although such figures relate to the “for profit” sector of business logistics, there are similarly relatively few women working in humanitarian logistics, and thus studying it (WISE, 2006). Clearly, the lack of female logisticians can, in part, be attributed to women not entering the profession in the first place (Trunick, 2007). This suggests that schools can play a key role at an earlier stage, something which needs to be tapped into when coming up with strategies for encouraging women into the profession (Tatham and Kovács, 2009). When it comes to the presence of women in managerial positions within humanitarian logistics, there are also a series of factors which keep numbers low (Lynagh et al., 2009). Barriers include a lack of female role models, women being excluded from informal networks, and not having a sponsor at the upper management level to generate opportunities (Barsh and Yee, 2011; Hall, 2013). However, Barsh and Yee (2011) go further and assert that the most powerful force preventing women from securing managerial roles in supply chains is that of entrenched beliefs. Although this study is concerned with commercial supply chains, deep-‐rooted cultural views similarly act as a barrier to female involvement in humanitarian logistics (WISE, 2006). Further, managers, both male and female, often exclude viable female candidates from a real chance at securing a position based on the assumption that woman cannot handle the physicality of certain jobs and also due to perceived family commitments (ibid). Not only this, but women themselves can be seen to hold themselves back due to a lack of confidence in their own abilities (Euphoria Consulting, 2009; Barsh and Yee, 2011). Indeed, “women will often defer when they have only four of five requirements for a given job opportunity, whereas men will take it even if they only have one of the five” (O’Marah, 2013, p. 1). Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge that there are opportunities for women within health supply chains, with almost three quarters of supply chain and logistics professionals surveyed by Euphoria Consulting (2009) asserting that opportunities for women to establish a professional career in logistics are better now than they ever have been previously. It then becomes a matter of how to ensure these opportunities for women are realised. What needs to be done? Clearly, if women have useful skillsets which can help improve the lives of end beneficiaries, something needs to be done to not only change perceptions and encourage more females to enter into humanitarian logistics, but also to protect them and address the challenges they face once there. Whilst many commentators call for organisational change which has a specific gender focus (e.g. Prieto-‐Carron, 2008; Barsh and Yee, 2011; Hall, 2013), a publication by USAID (2013) seeks to provide guidance on effective human resource (HR) capacity development more
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generally. This report notes that an insufficient number of staff (even if appropriately trained and motivated for the tasks required of them) is likely to cause poor system performance. This, in turn, ties in with a failure on the part of many health institutions to recognise the central role played by supply chain personnel (ibid). Robust HR management is characterised by a strategy that allows organisations to systematically tend to the dynamics of the workforce across the entire working lifespan, and by making clear each employee’s responsibilities as they tie in with the overall mission of the organisation, capacity will increase (USAID, 2013) (see Figure 3).
However, despite the fact that such general codes of HR management do exist in many humanitarian organisations, gender issues have been neglected, and matters including sexual harassment, childcare and maternity leave need to be focused on and addressed in organisation’s codes of conduct (Prieto et al., 2004; Prieto-‐Carron, 2008). A study of 20 workplace codes conducted by Person and Seyfang (2001) found that only a third related to sexual harassment, a tenth covered reproductive health and all were found to be poorly monitored and inspected. As Hale and Shaw (2001) assert: “the specific position of women workers within the industry should be the starting point for entire codes, rather than simply a generic anti-‐discrimination clause” (p. 524). Going further, female workers should be consulted with at each stage of the design and implementation of codes if they are to be truly gender-‐sensitive (Barrientos et al., 2001; Hale and Shaw, 2001). The importance of organisational transformation as a means of addressing gender issues in humanitarian logistics is emphasised by Barsh and Yee (2011), who state that despite 70% of efforts failing, transformations that have strong leadership and a comprehensive strategy to shift behaviours and mindsets are far more likely to succeed. Prieto-‐Carron (2008) suggests that workplace policies aimed at addressing gender issues should be focused at two main levels: the micro level and the macro
Figure 3: Impact of Human Resources on Supply Chain Performance
Source: USAID (2013)
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level. At the former level of analysis, recommendations include the need for records to be kept on the gender balance ratio, particularly amongst supervisors; documentation on best employer practices; and pro-‐rata rights and equal rights (Prieto-‐Carron, 2008). When it comes to monitoring and verification procedures, inclusion is once again emphasised, particularly of organisations representing women (Elias, 2003), and codes should be written in language which can be widely understood (Prieto-‐Carron, 2008). At the macro level, it is more than just a matter of workplace policies as the broader picture needs to be considered. Indeed, a significant criticism of codes of conduct, even those that deal specifically with gender issues, is that they fail to address deeply embedded structures of inequality such as low wages and the designation of females to the lowest paid, most insecure jobs (Elias, 2003; Prieto-‐Carron, 2006). Part of the problem relates to the perceptions that many people have of the supply chain industry as a whole; that there are few career opportunities and that it tends to be a profession of males (Euphoria Consulting, 2009; Hall, 2013). It is thus argued that it falls to companies to improve their marketing strategies, and to establish more programmes which ensure work-‐life balance, better career opportunities for females, and gender equality in general (Euphoria Consulting, 2009). Research conducted by Euphoria Consulting (2009) examined the HR issues faced by supply chain and logistics companies and published a series of suggestions for how to attract women to the industry (see Figure 4).
Notwithstanding this generally bleak picture, there is evidence that some companies have made real progress in removing structural barriers for females and have implemented policies that allow women to cope with the dual responsibilities of work and family life (Barsh and Yee, 2011). But change needs support from companies, education facilities, governments and civil society; it is only once this cooperation is achieved and perceptions are truly changed that genuine transformation will come about (ibid).
Figure 4: Ways of attracting women to the industry
Source: Euphoria Consulting (2009)
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Methodology Design In the period 7th to 25th September 2015, three themes and an accompanying set of 2-‐3 seeding questions were presented to the IAPHL community of practice via the discussion forum. Each of these was open to responses for 4 days. The themes and questions discussed were: 1. The impact of gender on health supply chain delivery
1. Does gender balance have an impact on the delivery of health logistics and supply chain services?
2. Does the gender of employees have a significant effect on public health supply chain delivery?
3. Can you provide examples where gender has had a positive or negative impact on logistics and the supply chain?
2. Mainstreaming gender in health supply chains 1. What are the behavioural expectations of the health logistics and
supply chain workforce and what impact does this have on the participation of women in the sector?
2. What stops women from joining the health logistics and supply chain workforce?
3. The impact of HR policies on gender balance in health supply chains
1. Do you think the human resources policies of your organisation encourage or prevent a certain gender from engaging in health logistics and supply chain careers?
2. What do you think needs to change in order to create a greater gender balance in health logistics and supply chain careers?
For each of these, an expert was asked to prepare a 2-‐page content brief with a short personal biography, background information related to the theme’s discussion, a set of questions and suggestions for further reading (see appendix A, B and C). Each week, one moderator would take the lead in creating discussion amongst the IAPHL community on their particular theme. The way in which questions were put to the online community was dependent on the moderator, with one posting the different seeding questions one at a time, whilst the other two putting all of the questions to the community in one go. Given that it was unclear in advance which would be the most appropriate strategy, it was decided that both would, in effect, be trialled. As it transpires, the former approach
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allowed for analysis to be undertaken in a more straightforward manner, although both methods generated high quality responses. The moderators were encouraged to engage in the discussions in order to ensure the conversation remained on track, to answer any questions, and to promote the sharing of information. Where responses were lacking, particularly in the case of theme 2, the moderators put forward their own opinions to demonstrate to participants the sorts of ideas and examples that might be relevant. Notwithstanding this process, it is considered unlikely that it swayed responses from other members of the online community given the intensely subjective nature of questions, which asked for personal experiences and examples. Rather, it was helpful in generating greater dialogue and, indeed, it was during the second theme of discussion that the most responses were collected. Analysis The qualitative technique of thematic analysis was used in this project as it was deemed to be the most effective way of clearly interpreting and presenting the large amount of data collected during online discussions (see Appendix D, E and F for full transcripts). A system of coding was developed during the literature review phase of this research and further added to once all responses had been collected for each week’s discussion. Recurring themes were drawn out of responses, some expected after reviewing the literature, and others less so. They were then put into a table to help with the process of structuring question summaries. Take Figure 7, for example; when asked whether or not gender had an impact on health supply chain delivery, three points were drawn out of responses which suggested that gender did have a negative impact: that there existed inequalities in access to education for females; that the physicality of the job often meant women were unable to participate; and that society generally perceived the industry as being ‘for men’ which put women off applying. Two points were also drawn out of posts which argued a positive impact of being female when working in health supply chains and these are listed as the final two points in the table, with a heavy line separating the positives and negatives. Such presentation is maintained throughout the themes, and where answers did not take the form of positive or negatives, no distinction is made between themes identified in the tables (as with Figure 9, for example, where only negatives (barriers) are included). Based on the above analysis, a summary of the week’s discussions was sent to all members of the IAPHL community. Direct quotes were not used in the summaries, but rather an outline of the points that were put forward in discussions to ensure the summaries were more succinct. However, points were referenced to the individuals who made them as a means of emphasising the quality and value of posts received.
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The analysis was complicated by the fact that the questions for themes 1 and 2 were posted at the same time, with only a handful of respondents separating their answers by question number. As a result, the researcher manually divided responses to the different questions within theme 2 based on sensible judgement that reflected the content of the response. However, particularly in relation to the responses to theme 1, there was a great deal of similarity and overlap between some questions, meaning it was not always sensible to divide responses up. Where this was the case, the analysis and discussion did not make distinctions between questions and it presented results as a single summary for the overall theme.
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Results With 32 responses from 13 different countries (see Figure 5), this online discussion captured a variety of viewpoints from individuals who occupy varied positions within health supply chains including pharmacists, programme managers, senior advisers, supply chain consultants and programme directors. Each participant has been included in this study due to the level of knowledge and depth of experience they are deemed to possess, noting that many have worked for a number of high-‐profile organisations in several different national contexts for considerable periods of time. Figure 5: List of countries represented by discussion responses
Country
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
United States of America
(USA)
United Kingdom (UK)
Fiji Sierra Leone Nigeria Zimbabwe Ethiopia Sudan Uganda Kenya Nepal Ghana
Thematic analysis The following represents a summary of the responses to each of the themes and was also used as part of the feedback to participants. Theme 1: The impact of gender on health supply chain delivery Theme 1 Thematic Analysis 1. Does gender balance have an impact on the delivery of health logistics and
supply chain services? 2. Does the gender of employees have a significant effect on public health supply
chain delivery? 3. Can you provide examples where gender has had a positive or negative impact
on logistics and the supply chain? The three questions were combined and analysed under the overarching question: Does gender have an impact on health supply chain delivery (with examples)? The thematic analysis of theme 1 as a whole (which was conducted in such a way due to the similarity between questions, as explained in the methodology) identified 5 subthemes, 3 of which indicate negatives against female participation and the other 2 suggesting the opposite (see Figure 6).
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Figure 6: Subthemes identified from theme 1
Thematic analysis for theme 1, Q1, 2 and 3: The impact of gender on health supply chain delivery
Wider inequalities in access to education
Physically demanding nature of the
job
General perception of the supply
chain concept as being ‘for
men’
Cultural sensitivities
call for females (particularly at the point of service delivery)
Women have different natural
skillsets so better at certain
tasks/roles
Theme 1 Summary When analysing gender issues in supply chains, it is important to distinguish where along the chain observations are being made as the situation may vary from strategic to operational levels (Murtada). Overall, it is evident that there persists a significant gender gap in supply chains. Yet, we must bear in mind the fact that gender inequalities in supply chains may be traced back to differing education opportunities between males and females, and between those living in urban and rural areas, meaning the gender concerns in supply chains are a problem rooted in wider inequalities in access to education (David). Negative gender imbalances which favour men can be recognised. In Ethiopia, it has been noted that there are very few women working in the major supply chain functional areas (Addis). Another source points out that when it comes to operational tasks such as clearing and forwarding, more men can be found engaged in such activities; hours are long, ports are usually chaotic, and there are many mechanised duties in warehouses (Murtada). The physicality of such tasks may be better suited to the male gender and female distribution vendors would struggle in such a male dominated environment (Matthew). Further, in the Nigerian context, the environment is more male dominated as you go up the supply chain, which may be the result of the general perception of the concept of a supply chain (Matthew). However, this is not to say that women do not possess the necessary skills and thus the capacity to succeed within the industry; they are just as capable as men when it comes to working in supply chains although may be suited to different tasks. This is particularly evident when accounting for certain cultural sensitivities – a man will feel very comfortable allowing his wife to be examined by a female health practioner rather than a male, yet this same man will likely be unwilling to receive family planning counselling, or even accept contraception from the same female practioner (Matthew). The natural skillsets of women differ from those of men and these differences are advantageous for supply chain management (Addis). Indeed, it is worth making a distinction between physical tasks, which tend to be undertaken by men and who may be better suited to doing them, and roles that require the use of the mind, which women may be more effective at (Murtada).
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A gender imbalance which favours women can also be seen, which fits with the aforementioned categorisation. Having females in the health supply chain workforce, particularly at the point of service delivery, can be an absolute imperative in cases where, for instance, religion calls for women to remain indoors and they are not allowed male visitors, except for their husband or children (Benedict). A female client may also feel extremely uncomfortable having a male pharmacist explain how to use, for example, a vaginal pessary (Ifeoluwa) and it is on these occasions at the point of service delivery that certain cultural attitudes make women better placed to fill a role. Another example of where the presence of females is important is in fundraising and subsequent spending disbursements, and they have proven extremely effective in this area, perhaps by virtue of their gender, although this is a subjective view (Murtada). Further, in Nigeria, Primary Health Centres (PHCs) make up about 80% of health institutions and serve as the first point of call in any public health situation for majority of Nigerians. These centres are largely managed by Nurses and Midwives who tend to be female, as it is believed that they have the ability to connect more with clients; given that the majority of patients at clinics are female, cultural sensitivities mean that it is only acceptable for women to provide care (Matthew). Theme 2: Mainstreaming gender in health supply chains Theme 2, Question 1 Thematic Analysis 1. What are the behavioural expectations of the health logistics and supply chain
workforce and what impact does this have on the participation of women and men in the sector?
The thematic analysis of theme 2, question 1 identified 4 subthemes, 2 of which indicate behavioural expectations which limit the participation of women in health supply chains and the other 2 suggesting the opposite (see Figure 7). Figure 7: Subthemes identified from theme 2, question 1
Thematic analysis for theme 2, Q1: Behavioural expectations Behave in a ‘macho’ way
Societal perceptions of women as weak
Hard work Women better at certain tasks and also more caring
and compassionate, e.g. admin., HR, finance, nursing
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Theme 2, Question 1 Summary Within health logistics and supply chain operations, a series of behavioural expectations can be identified as having a direct impact on the way in which women can, and feel they should, participate in the sector. Rather than maintaining their true gender identity and acting as themselves, women may feel under pressure to behave in a ‘macho’ way, speaking like men and trying to appear tough in front of male colleagues (Aggie). This is likely to stem not only from the dominance of males in such work (Pam), but also due to deeply engrained cultural views, which persist particularly within the African context, whereby women are perceived to be weaker than men and subsequently unable to carry out physically demanding roles (Petros; Francois). Indeed, certain sectors of operation are distinctly void of female workers; for instance, during emergency situations in very remote contexts, few women will be found, which can be attributed to societal perceptions (Petros). Exacerbating these beliefs is the actual location and positioning of many health centres. Facilities are often extremely inadequate and result in workers being forced to do a great deal of heavy lifting which women either can’t, or simply won’t, do due to the amount of physical energy required (Austin). However, although certain behavioural expectations limit men and women to certain roles and functional areas, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Females tend to dominate areas like administration, human resources, and finance which demand skills of organisation and coordination. In comparison, men usually occupy more physically demanding roles which involve heavy lifting. Yet women are seen as being suited to the aforementioned roles so much so that men may even be discriminated against in such areas (Matthew). Yet, it has been asserted that being able to work in supply chains is not actually a question of gender, but rather one of how hard individuals are prepared to work (Carine; Petros). The sector as a whole is risky and demands absolute dedication at all times, no matter what the conditions. Participation becomes a matter of whether people are able to commit 100% to their job, which means that those with no responsibilities beyond work (such as family) may be given priority for health logistician positions over those who do have outside commitments, a matter which is not so much dependent on gender (Carine). Despite certain behavioural expectations affecting the participation of women in health supply chains, we can recognise signs of hope. A dedicated woman will not be stopped from reaching the required objectives by any barriers, even if this means long shifts and tough working conditions (Alaa). Women are regarded as caring, trustworthy and affectionate and this can be an advantage in the humanitarian field – behavioural expectations are arguably more well suited to women so it’s about time they started taking the lead (Alaa). In terms of action that can be taken to further ensure women realise their potential and do not face so many barriers, logistics tasks need to be clarified amongst society in general and also more specifically within the industry so that equal participation is better encouraged (Francois).
26
Theme 2, Question 2 Thematic Analysis 2. What stops women from joining the health logistics and supply chain
workforce? The thematic analysis of theme 2, question 2 identified 7 subthemes, all of which indicate barriers to women participating in the health logistics and supply chain profession (see Figure 8). Figure 8: Subthemes identified from theme 2, question 2
There have been identified several barriers to the participation of women in the health logistics and supply chain workforce. Many of these are related to widespread cultural beliefs which affect perceptions of what women are capable of doing. Women are seen as being unable to work under stressful conditions and for long periods away from home (Petros; Aggie). The physicality of logistics work is also seen to be beyond the capabilities of women and such a view may even ignore the areas in which they excel above men, such as organising, planning and coordinating (Carine; Albert). Security issues associated with humanitarian work are viewed as more of a threat to females, which arises from a lack of provision being made for general safety by organisations (Carine). Logisticians also tend to be viewed as back office staff with no ambition and poor education levels, meaning the system itself gives few opportunities to ambitious women (Carine; Francois). Further, health logistics and supply management programmes are not usually offered at universities, meaning appointments are not so much based on qualifications, but more on subjective choices of the head of the unit who may be biased against women (Austin; Pam). Arguments have emerged expressing the deep-‐rooted nature of the barriers women face in health logistics which, once addressed, could see other issues disappear (Pangday; Albert). Indeed, in much of the developing world, the logistics occupation is yet to receive the support and recognition it deserves as a standalone career path,
Thematic analysis for theme 2, Q2: Barriers to women joining the profession Cultural beliefs
Perceptions of what
women are capable of
Physicality of the work
Security issues
Perceptions of
logisticians puts
ambitious women off
Not offered at universities
Profession not given deserved recognition so lack of investment
Theme 2, Question 2 Summary
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meaning there are very few training courses and logistics academics available (Albert). It is from here that we can recognise where some of the more direct barriers to women stem from; since there is no clear career path for a health logistician, many workers simply trickle in from male-‐dominated, physically demanding sectors such as shipping and commercial transport which results in many women shunning the profession in favour of raising a family (Albert). Additionally, the lack of positive recognition assigned to the logistics profession from developing nation governments, donors and big corporate companies often results in a lack of investment, logisticians and supply chain managers being blamed for problems that occur in the overall process, and a failure to give them praise when something goes well (Pangday). If the importance of the profession is recognised, and if it receives the appropriate publicity in order to enter into mainstream academia, gender issues and the matter of balanced representation will likely see to themselves (Pangday; Albert). Although women constantly have to prove themselves in such an environment (Carine), there are signs that things are changing (Austin). Although the level of education women receive may limit their ability to communicate and calculate, there are ways around this to make use of the skills they do have (Katie). Women need the determination to earn respect by showing how good they can be (Katie; Pam). For example, they should pitch in with physical tasks regardless of breaking nails and getting bruises (Katie). They should always strive to have their voices heard in male-‐dominated settings such as boardrooms and conferences (Pam). Although family commitments are a difficulty for women – looking after children/elderly relatives – there are ways around it, but women need to work out if the sacrifice is worth it as their job may involve being away from home for extended periods (Pam; Katie). However, nothing should stop women in health supply chains; they are entitled to hold any position and are actually better suited to this type of work (Alaa). Theme 3: The impact of HR policies on gender balance in health supply chains Theme 3, Question 1 Thematic Analysis 1. Do you think the human resources policies of your organisation encourage or
prevent a certain gender from engaging in health logistics and supply chain careers? What examples can you share?
The thematic analysis of theme 3, question 1 identified 12 subthemes, 8 of which indicate HR policies which limit the participation of women in health supply chains and the other 4 suggesting the opposite (see Figure 9).
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Figure 9: Subthemes identified from theme 3, question 1
Thematic analysis for theme 3, Q1: HR policies of organisations Policy
requirements that women cannot
fulfil
Long, inflexible working hours
Responsibility of childcare
Workforce development
courses located far away
Outdated stereotypes
Failure to promote positive aspects of the profession
Social factors such as poverty and
status
The way a job is advertised, as well
as the cost of applying
Adverts that don’t discriminate but
encourage
Gender balance on interview panels
Good maternity allowances
Promoting women to managerial positions
Theme 3, Question 1 Summary It is clear to see that women face a number of barriers resulting from the HR policies of organisations which affects their ability to engage in health logistics and supply chain careers. These can take the form of policy issues; for instance, the requirement that motorcycles are used by workers providing technical support exclude many women who do not ride, and also the requirement that workers are able to carry out equipment maintenance may be particularly manual and unsuitable for women to do (Victoria). Further, there may be a number of practical barriers to women participating in such a working environment since the responsibility of childcare often falls far more heavily on their shoulders, especially when babies are involved (Victoria; Pam). These include long, inflexible working hours (Pam) and the fact that workforce development courses may be located far from home and last months to end (Victoria). Outdated stereotypes can also hold women back, as well as a failure to sell the positive aspects of the profession by organisations themselves (Pam). This can be summed up by the reference Brigid refers to in that a woman will not apply for a position if she only meets four out of five requirements. Companies are not efficient enough at demonstrating the way in which their work can be socially useful and require qualities that women tend to have in abundance. It is not a matter of appearing to be ‘one of the boys’ as many women feel the pressure to act and this is something companies need to get across (Pam). As well as gender, social factors can prevent individuals in certain groups from getting jobs. These include poverty and status within society. However, if you are female and have an additional social barrier to employment, your opportunities are particularly limited (Apolosi). Beyond the matter of gender, the way in which a job is advertised can also create barriers to engaging with supply chains and this is an issue which applies equally to men and women (Katie; Sharon). If a role gets posted online, people who don’t have
29
the Internet cannot access it and a physical advert positioned somewhere unsafe where few people will pass will have little effect (Katie). The cost of printing and sending off CVs is another limitation, as is lack of experience of how to present them (Katie). Companies often struggle to know how best to advertise a job and may miss out on excellent candidates for this reason (Sharon). Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge that some organisations have very good human resource policies in place which do not discriminate against either gender (Anna). Crucially, these are in place at every stage of the selection, recruitment and retention process (Damola). Adverts should never discriminate and should encourage both sexes to apply; an appropriate gender balance on interview panels is essential to ensure gender equality and non-‐discriminatory questions; upon recruitment, companies should provide women with good maternity allowances including observing the mandatory maternity period and helping with the costs of childcare; and organisations should award women deserved managerial positions (Eshiet; Damola). But these are individual cases and it is from these that we need to learn (Anna). Theme 3, Question 2 Thematic Analysis 2. What do you think needs to change in order to create a greater gender balance
in health logistics and supply chain careers?
The thematic analysis of theme 3, question 2 identified 11 subthemes, all of which indicate changes that need to be made to organisations’ HR policies in order to encourage more women to participate in the health logistics and supply chain profession (see Figure 10). Figure 10: Subthemes identified from theme 3, question 2
Thematic analysis for theme 3, Q2: What needs to change? Widespread calls for workplace
equality
Cooperation between
government and civil/professional organisations
Cooperation between heads of organisations and
workers
Staff should be consulted
Active commitment to equality by
promoting equal opportunities in all
aspects
Different wording of recruitment
adverts
Standardised assessments for men and women
Support of higher education and development for
both sexes
Introduction of a mentorship programme
More creative ways of advertising jobs and placed in better locations
Good guidelines sent to all job
applicants, as well as a means of sending for free
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Theme 3, Question 2 Summary It is important to understand that policies in the workplace that promote gender equality will not lead to immediate changes in the way women are treated/viewed; it will take time to change cultural views and stigma. But calling for equality will help speed up changes (Apolosi). Firstly, cooperation is essential when striving for gender balance, both amongst the government and civil/professional organisations (Francois), and also between the heads of organisations and workers themselves (Anna). Staff should be consulted when developing policies, their concerns listened to, and they must be given a comprehensive briefing once a policy is rolled out (Anna). Organisations need to actively commit to ensuring equality, as has been emphasised in the strategy adopted by the WISE programme which promotes equal opportunity for women in organisations’ hiring policies for logistics and supply chain professionals (Pam). Indeed, individual organisations need to assess how to reduce any barriers women may face to employment, e.g. different wording of a recruitment ad might attract more women to apply (Brigid). Once women are in employment, the way men and women are assessed within the workplace should be standardised, e.g. men are promoted on their potential whilst women are judged primarily on their performance (Brigid). Further, companies should support higher education and development of both male and female logisticians on gender issues and professional training throughout their careers, as with the second prong of the WISE strategy (Pam). To build on such an approach, a mentorship programme can be an effective tool to help workers access top-‐level professionals who can guide their careers and support women, in particular, in the field (Pam). In terms of addressing the problems associated with job advertising, which affects both men and women equally, organisations need to come up with more creative ways to advertise jobs, particularly in terms of the location of ads (Katie). Some companies use sites like LinkedIn, DevEx and DevAid which are effective, but knowing which local newspapers and locations to best advertise would also be helpful. Advertisements should be in safe locations where many people pass by, e.g. hospitals, markets, women’s centres (Katie). Also, good guidelines should be sent to the applicant, as should a means of photocopying and sending their application for free (Katie).
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Discussion Results from this study support the wider literature base which suggests that there continues to be relatively few female humanitarian logisticians, and this is particularly worrying given that responding to the gender-‐specific requirements of end beneficiaries is central to the overall humanitarian aim (Tatham and Kovács, 2009). Indeed, a number of IAPHL members offered personal experiences of working alongside few women in their role as a male logistician, or being the sole female in a room full of men. Whilst there can be recognised a series of skills that any “good” logistician should possess, this study joins a growing body of research which stresses the different skillsets possessed by men and women, and which argues that the presence of both is of advantage to the overall performance of health supply chains (WISE, 2006; Hoag, 2008). Participants suggested this to be the case particularly when accounting for cultural sensitivities, and in areas such as administration, HR and finance, women were said to be better suited. Nevertheless, barriers certainly exist and participants in this research clearly demonstrated these, and it will also be noted that these largely correspond with those uncovered in earlier studies (e.g. WISE, 2006; Tatham and Kovács, 2009). They include the responsibility of childcare, long and inflexible working hours, outdated stereotypes of women within society, lack of confidence in women themselves in terms of what they are capable of, the physicality of logistics work, security issues associated with humanitarian work, perceptions of humanitarian logistics as having nowhere to progress, the fact that humanitarian logistics isn’t offered by universities, poverty and status within come societies, the way a job is advertised and the financial cost of applying. A number of suggestions have also emerged which offer ways in which gender issues in humanitarian logistics can be addressed. Many commentators have called for organisational changes which have a specific gender focus (Prieto-‐Carron, 2008; Barsh and Yee, 2011; Hall, 2013) and this was supported by participants in this study. For example, it was strongly argued that there should be no discrimination at any stage of the recruitment or employment process, with suggested measures to counter this including: adverts that encourage both sexes to apply, gender balance on interview panels, good maternity allowances, ensuring that there is an equal representation of women in managerial positions and a mentorship programme. The survey also made it clear that women themselves need to find ways around barriers and make use of the skills that they possess. For example, they need the determination to earn respect, to pitch in regardless of what the task is, and they may need to sacrifice family time at some points in their careers. There is also evidence that some companies have made real progress in removing structural barriers for females and have implemented policies that allow women to cope with the dual responsibilities of work and family life (Barsh and Yee, 2011), and this progress was affirmed by a small number of the survey’s participants.
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Nevertheless, the survey results would indicate that there is still much work to be undertaken in order to change attitudes and see more women as humanitarian logisticians but it is suggested that, through cooperation and over time, this goal is not completely out of reach.
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Conclusion The IAPHL online discussion forum has proven to be a useful way of engaging the global health supply chain and logistics community on the complex issue of gender in humanitarian logistics. With 32 posts from participants from 13 different countries, it is clear that this discussion topic was of particular interest to members and, indeed, the findings make a valuable contribution to existing limited research on gender issues in humanitarian logistics. It is clear that there is a continuing lack of female humanitarian logisticians, with barriers including the difficulty of balancing work and family life, as well as the general perception of logistics as a domain for men, being particularly challenging. Organisational transformation has been argued as central to getting more women into humanitarian logistics and, as such, there needs to be a focus on developing appropriate processes that support female applicants, without disadvantaging their male colleagues. Women also need to be a part of changing perceptions and showing the field of humanitarian logistics and health supply chains that a dedicated woman will not be stopped. It is also important to recognise that policies in the workplace which promote gender equality will not lead to immediate changes in the way women are treated/viewed; it will take time to change cultural views and stigma. But there are signs of positive change within some organisations that participants in this research have highlighted, and the field of humanitarian logistics needs to take note of these and work in unison to ensure women contribute their unique and valuable skillsets within humanitarian logistics. The underlying message of this research is not to say that women are better suited to working in health logistics than men, but that both have different skills which are needed if the most efficient and effective service is to be provided to the end beneficiary.
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Recommendations for future research Whilst this study has contributed to the current limited literature base on gender in humanitarian logistics in terms of focusing on what attracts and hinders women from entering this profession (Kovács and Tatham, 2009), a review of existing studies has revealed a number of important gaps that remain to be addressed. The first of these is to evaluate how humanitarian logisticians can mitigate against the gender disadvantages faced by beneficiaries in the aftermath of a disaster. War-‐related violence which targets females, and men leaving poverty-‐stricken areas in search of work elsewhere, are two such examples of gender disadvantages (ibid). As part of this process, it will be recognised that cultural specificities will also form an important part of considerations about access to those who are the recipients or potential recipients of the services of the humanitarian logistician. Second, whilst this research has touched upon the skills required of a “good” logistician, there is a need for further research which investigates the existence and extent of links between gender, skills and logistics performance.
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Appendix Appendix A: Detailed Evidence Brief for Theme 1 – The Impact of Gender on Health Supply Chain Delivery
Moderator: Pamela Steele, Director, Pamela Steele and Associates Ltd.
Brief moderator bio: Pamela Steele is director and principal consultant at Pamela Steele Associated (PSA) Ltd, a consultancy specializing in supply chain management in the international development and humanitarian sectors. Pam has an MBA in Supply Chain Management and is a doctoral (DBA) student at Cranfield University, UK, researching the health supply chain in developing countries. She is the incoming Lead of the People that Deliver Initiative Research Working Group. Pam’s career has spanned over 25 years in logistics and supply chain management in international development. Previous employers include UNICEF, UNFPA, Oxfam Great Britain, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and World Vision International. Discussion dates: 7th-‐11th September 2015 Background to discussion: In 2006, Pamela Steele was working as head of global logistics and supply operations for Oxfam and saw first-‐hand how aid was delivered in the aftermath of the Indian Asian Tsunami disaster which killed 230,000 people in 14 countries. It prompted her to raise the question: why were there so few women in humanitarian logistics? Although logistics and supply chain is more male dominated, Pam wanted to know whether a lack of diversity in the workforce has any impact on beneficiaries? She has been thinking a lot about the lack of adequate, trained health supply chain professionals and the impact on health care delivery. Women (and children) are often the ones needing health care or tend to visit the clinic most, be it for family planning, during pregnancy, childbirth and after to take their loved one to the clinic. Would having a balanced workforce of men and women working in health supply chain, particularly in the last mile (service delivery point), help improve supply chain performance and therefore health care delivery to meet the needs and aspirations of the patients they serve? Theme 1 seeding questions The following questions were used to prompt discussion:
1. Does gender balance have an impact on the delivery of health logistics and supply chain services?
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2. Does the gender of employees have a significant effect on public health supply chain delivery?
3. Can you provide examples where gender has had a positive or negative impact on logistics and the supply chain?
Further reading: Enarson, E. (2002) Chapter 2: Gender issues in natural disasters: talking points on research needs”, in Working Paper 7, ILO InFocus Programme on Crisis Response and Reconstruction, Crises, Women and Other Gender Concerns, pp. 5-‐12, available at: www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/crisis/download/wp7.pdf (accessed 1 September 2015). Kovács, G. and Tatham, P. (2008) The effects of gender on humanitarian logistics, in Beyond Business Logistics, NOFOMA 2008 Proceedings. Autere, V., Bask, A., Kovács, G., Spens, K. & Tanskanen, K. (eds.). Helsinki: LOGY -‐ Suomen Osto-‐ ja Logistiikkayhdistys, p. 329-‐342. Kovács, G. and Tatham, P. (2009) Humanitarian logistics performance in light of gender, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 58(2), 174-‐187. WISE (2006) Humanitarian Logistics – A Career for Women, WISE, available at: http://www.wise.uk.net/publications/Humanitarian_Logistics.pdf Steele, P. and Kovács, G. (2013) Gender and humanitarian logistics – a situational update, in Managing Humanitarian Supply Chains – Strategies, Practices and Research, Hellingrath, B., Link, D. & Widera, A. (eds.). Bremen: BVL -‐ Bundesvereinigung Logistik, p. 298-‐313.
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Appendix B: Detailed Evidence Brief for Theme 2 – Mainstreaming Gender in Health Supply Chains
Moderator: Aggie Kalungu-‐Banda
Brief moderator bio: Aggie is an experienced, highly motivated and make-‐things-‐happen manager, facilitator, trainer and non-‐executive coach. She has worked at senior management level and has a 20-‐year track record of working effectively across cultures in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Aggie has over 10 years of experience in gender and participatory development processes. Previously, she has worked at the YWCA in England and Wales, Oxfam GB as a Gender Adviser in the Humanitarian Department and she was Executive Director for the National Women's Lobby Group in Zambia (a group dedicated to increasing the number of women in decision making at all levels). Aggie also worked for YWCA in Zambia, where she was the first co-‐ordinator at the Drop in Centre that was established for abused women. Discussion dates: 14th-‐18th September 2015 Background to discussion: Welcome to Week Two of this three-‐week discussion on mainstreaming gender in health supply chain. In the previous week's discussion, we focused on gender balance and its impact on health supply chain operations. This week's discussion will focus on behavioural expectations of the health logistics and supply chain workforce. Similar to last week, I will be posting a question every other day for the IAPHL community to discuss, provide comments, and ask more questions. At the end of the week, I will provide a summary of our discussion over the week. Theme 2 seeding questions The following questions were used to prompt discussion:
1. What are the behavioural expectations of the health logistics and supply chain workforce and what impact does this have on the participation of women in the sector?
2. What stops women from joining the health logistics and supply chain workforce?
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Further reading: Kovács, G. and Tatham, P. (2009) Logistics skills and performance in the “for profit” and “not for profit” sectors, Volatile and Fragile Supply Chains, Proceedings of the LRN Annual Conference 2009, pp. 334-‐340. Kovács, G. et al. (2011) Gender mainstreaming in humanitarian purchasing, presented at Horn of Africa Conference, Lund, Sweden. Kovács, G. et al. (2012) Gender Mainstreaming in Purchasing in the Humanitarian Context, presented at The Role of Women in Promoting Peace and Development, Annual Conference on the Horn of Africa, Lund, Sweden. WISE (2006) Humanitarian Logistics – A Career for Women, WISE, available at: http://www.wise.uk.net/publications/Humanitarian_Logistics.pdf
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Appendix C: Detailed Evidence Brief for Theme 3 – The Impact of HR Policies on Gender Balance in Health Supply Chains
Moderator: Andrew N. Brown, PhD BPharm
Brief moderator bio: Andrew Brown is the Consultant Executive Manager for the People that Deliver (PtD) Initiative. He joined the Initiative in June 2013 following an Assistant Professor position at the University of Canberra. He is a pharmacist by background with an 18-‐year career in hospital and community pharmacy management, before engaging in supply chain management capacity development since 2007. His initial country-‐based activity has been in the Asia Pacific Region with UNFPA and WHO. More recently he has had the privilege of engaging with the PtD focus countries in Africa. Discussion dates: 21st-‐25th September 2015 Background to discussion: In this final week I am interested in considering this discussion from a policy perspective. As we think about a systematic approach to human resources in organisations PtD talks about working on five building blocks3. 3 As developed by CapacityPlus (CapacityPlus 2011) and modified by the USAID | DELIVER PROJECT (2013) ; CapacityPlus. 2011. Serving Health Workers, Saving Lives. (accessed September 9, 2011). http://www.capacityplus.org/sites/intrah.civicactions.net/files/resources/CapacityPlus_Brochure_0.pdf)
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Some of these building blocks have been noted in discussions so far, as have aspects of culture in regard to gender issues around service delivery and supply chain activities. Sometimes how workplace policies are written can affect gender diversity in the workplace. Theme 3 seeding questions The following questions were used to prompt discussion:
1. Do you think the human resources policies of your organisation encourage or prevent a certain gender from engaging in health logistics and supply chain careers?
2. What do you think needs to change in order to create a greater gender balance in health logistics and supply chain careers?
Further reading: Brown, A. (no date) Submission on behalf of People that Deliver: Public consultation to inform the Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health, #8: Building on human capability beyond the sector, World Health Organisation, available at: http://www.who.int/workforcealliance/media/news/2014/17PtD_GHWA.pdf Irving, P. et al. (2014) Improving Women’s Visibility – The unseen gender in transport and logistics, Women in Supply Chain Executive, Melbourne, AUS. People that Deliver (2013) Rising to the challenge of improving human resources for health supply chains – SE16, 10th November 2013, available at: http://www.peoplethatdeliver.org/sites/peoplethatdeliver.org/files/PtD%20Side%20Event%2010th%20Nov%202013.pdf People that Deliver (2014) Why human resources in supply chain management are important and how can they be strengthened? Available at http://www.peoplethatdeliver.org/sites/peoplethatdeliver.org/files/1%20WHAT%20is%20an%20HR%20for%20SCM%20approach%20Jan%202014.pdf WISE (2006) Humanitarian Logistics – A Career for Women, WISE, available at: http://www.wise.uk.net/publications/Humanitarian_Logistics.pdf
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Appendix D: Participant Responses for Theme 1
Post no.
Response
1 At service delivery only female can have access to women in puddah (this is a religious situation that keeps married women indoors and they cannot be visited by any male except the husband and children) Administering female reproductive health and hygiene supplies like sanitary supplies etc. I will continue later Benedict
2 I think that before we delve into this topic, it might be useful to have as a point of departure some reference to what the gender situation is/has been in more general Supply Chains including, for example, the Military, from where the issue of "Logistics" seems to have evolved. This way, we might get to observe any peculiarities with specific reference to the more recently exposed Health Supply Chains, and if so, analyze and conclude more accurately with recommendations for possible ways forward. Also, it is important to analyze Supply Chain gender issues from a standpoint of where along the Chain we make any observations, as we move from strategic to operational levels. Drawing from my own career experience, I have to say that four out of five supervisors I worked for/with over two decades were female! In fact, on a rather lighter but factual note, I recall that in a middle-‐level management Supply Chain job interview in 2002, the last question I was asked was that as the team the successful candidate was going to join was mainly comprised of females, whether I would have any difficulty in such a situation! -‐ I probably won the day by 'smartly' responding that women have always loved me, and as such I will add to motivating the team! One of the areas I found the gender of my supervisors being an important issue, for reasons I cannot forcibly explain, is Supply Chain fund raising and spend control. I was always tempted to believe that my female supervisors were very effective at fund raising and subsequent disbursement control of Supply chain work, by virtue of their gender. Of course, this may be debatable. However, further away to operational issues, such as Clearing and Forwarding, which often requires very long hours at usually chaotic ports, and unmechanized warehouse operations, I experienced more males in action. From these rather limited experiences, I suggest that "Body and Mind" issues, in as far they may be influenced by Gender, are worth reflecting on for the current discussion. Murtada
3 Based my hands-‐on experiences and observations, it is clear that there is a significant gender gap in supply chain business. Ethiopia was the best example to cite. When I was working in the pharmaceuticals supply chain system, I came to note that there were a couple of women in the major supply chain functional areas: quantification and procurement, warehouse and distribution, LMIS, and etc. But this does not mean that women do not have the skillset and ability to succeed within the industry. Women are as capable as men when it comes to working within the supply chain
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industry. Research conducted by SCM World found that the majority of men (63%) and women (75%) believe that the natural skillsets of women differ from those of men and that these differences are advantageous for supply chain management Addis
4 Attempting to answer week one questions: 1. Does gender balance have an impact on the delivery of health logistics and supply chain services? Viewing health logistics and supply chain services holistically and from a Nigerian perspective, the SDPs play a key role as David asserts, providing that interphase in the supply chain with the final end user. In Nigeria, Primary Health Centers (PHCs) make up about 80% of health institutions & serve as the first point of call in any public health situation for majority of Nigerians. These centers are majorly managed by Nurses, Midwives or Community Health Extension Workers popularly referred to as CHEWs. This category of health workers are majorly of the female gender as it is believed that they have the ability to connect more with clients in addition to cultural sensitivities when it involves female patients who dominate clinic visits. Going up the supply chain ladder, the gender focus changes as we see a more male dominated circuit which I think is as a result of the general perception of the concept of supply chain. Based on the forgoing, I would agree that gender balance has an impact on the delivery of supply chain solutions. While the current structure as played out in the Nigerian context may show some form of balance based on level of supply chain service, gender issues still play out across the different divides. A male client visiting an SDP in a particular region may be uncomfortable receiving family planning counselling from a female nurse or CHEW. 2. Does the gender of employees have a significant effect on health supply chain delivery? Answering this question using the Nigerian context again, it depends on the level at which such employee operates as well as prevailing cultural sensitivities. While a female health worker will function effectively when attending to female clients and children, the same cannot be said if a male client is involved, especially in areas that view such, as negative cultural practices. A female distribution vendor will find it very difficult to cope in a male dominated environment as the demand of the work requires certain levels of physicality that is traditionally ascribed to the male gender. An area where gender differences will not have any significant effect is at a much higher level of the supply chain where decisions are being made such as the state, regional or central level. 3. Can you provide examples where gender has positive or negative impact on logistics and the supply chain? The PHCs I have described previously can serve as an example where gender can have both positive or negative impact on logistics and the supply chain. A man will feel very comfortable allowing his wife to be examined by a female health practitioner rather than a male personnel due to some region specific cultural sensitivities. This same man will not be willing to receive family planning counselling or even accept condoms from the same female practitioner. Matthew
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5 Gender does not have a balanced impact in Health Supply Chains; this is an area that Medics thinks is automatic -‐ that if you are a medic or a Pharmacist you can be one without going through formal training in Supply chain as a profession Persse. The gender balance is a deficiency in that categories of Supply Chain maters to many and what they studied to make them what they are. The environment of which the supply chain are set to function are mostly unique and remote for example non family duty station, Africa rural areas may hinder gender balance but meanwhile Women and Men are equal professionally but the question is: Are there equal number of Women and Men professional as per the Health Supply Chain? This is a concern worldwide. The bottom line is that the Women who have ever held the posts of Health Supply Chain has ever been the best than what the Men has done. David
6 Dear colleagues, It's been interesting reading through the various contributions. Now in response to the third question, I have had occasions at SDPs where a female client was completely uncomfortable with a male pharmacist explaining to her how to use a vaginal pessary. I think the issue is more critical at service delivery points and it's culture dependent. However, each organisation may have its reservations for allowing any form of lop-‐sidedness to suit different aspects or stages of the supply chain. Hence, for the other two questions, I stand with Matthew's viewpoints. Thank you, Ifeoluwa
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Appendix E: Participant Responses for Theme 2 Post no.
Response
1 Dear IAPHL members, You have been quiet, I hope the questions are not too difficult. May be I should share from my experience if that can help. Regarding the first question: What are the behavioural expectations of the health logistics and supply chain workforce and what impact does this have on the participation of women and men in the sector? What I used to see in the field was most humanitarian logisticians behaving macho, and the few women I met in logistics tried to look tough like the men, speak like the men when they could have been themselves and still do their jobs without losing their gender identity. Regarding the second question: What stops women from joining the health logistics and supply chain work force? Again, my experience in emergencies was that there were serious security concerns and in some cases cultural issues that prevented women from joining the health logistics and supply chain work force. There were also, some practical barriers, such as long working hours away from home. The low education levels of women was also a barrier when it came to the recruitment of local staff. I look forward to hear your experiences. Aggie
2 Question 1: What are the behavioural expectations of the health Logistics and supply chain workforce and what impact does this have on the participation of women and men in the sector? The health logistics and supply chain workforce are expected to work even under very difficult and stressful conditions both men and women. This has created a situation where you find more women concentrated on specific areas of operation and men in some areas, i.e. during emergency situations in very remote areas there is never a proportionate representation of women and men workforce because of a certain perception. Practically women and man are able to perform the same duties in the logistics and supply chain but there is a perception that woman work better in certain environments than men and vice-‐versa, thereby restricting participation of both in the logistics and supply chain. Question 2. What stops woman from joining the health logistics and supply chain workforce? It is perceived that women are not able to work under very stressful environment and cannot work during odd hours. This perception stops women from joining the health logistics and supply chain workforce since because of the situation on the ground working hours are extended and sometimes with little or no rest. Prepared by: Petros
3 I recently joined the IAPHL group. Usually I would enjoy the observer and learner privilege whenever I find myself in a relatively new environment. Nevertheless, Pam you have
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succeeded in calling a halt to my solely observing and learning stand. Congrats! I have been supporting several developing countries in the area of their health supply chain and distribution. From my experience and some health logisticians feedback, I would say 1) What are the behavioural expectations of the health logistics and supply chain workforce and what impact does this have on the participation of women and men in the sector? It is generally expected from logisticians to be "tout terrain" including the ability to complete administrative, negotiation, handy tasks... They should then be able to anticipate and perform well in rough and high risky environment. In addition, logisticians are expected to live their lives 100% for their job, meaning they should be ready for duty call at any time and season, come rain come sun! This later expectation goes beyond the common gender mainstreaming and raise the question whether people with no other responsibility (family for instance) than their work, would/should be given priority for health logisticians positions? 2) What stops woman from joining the health logistics and supply chain workforce? The first barrier is tied to cultural beliefs or perception specially in developing countries where it is believed that logistics should exclusively be reserved for men. Perhaps, as logistics is commonly perceived as lifting/loading/offloading heavy loads, ignoring sound planning, organizing and coordinating skills in which women would naturally excel. The second will be lack of conducive environment for work. Specially in the public sector, logisticians will be assigned to a couple of tasks, but means to effectively achieve these will not always follow. So they are usually left to themselves, no provision would be made for their safety and health security. They have to risk their lives to deliver Thirdly but not the least nor the last, as back office staff, logisticians contribution to the whole health system is often neglected, not recognized or valued. In some worst cases, logisticians are viewed as people without ambition or poorly educated. In summary, women have the required potential to take health logistics positions. However, they will compare well to fellow men in well-‐established and organized societies. Whereas, in developing countries, even when some women will do well in prudent planning, coordinating implementation of logistics activities, their authority is usually challenged. This leading them to always have to prove that they are up to the task which is not only draining but demotivating. Carine
4 Hello all, 1.What are the behavioural expectations of the health logistics and supply chain workforce and what impact does this have on the participation of women and men in the sector? Behavioural expectations can be said to be tied to functional areas. Supply chain administration, human resource and finance roles require highly organized and coordinated persons and I have observed that these roles are dominated within organizations by the female gender. It is even possible that the male folks are sometimes discriminated against in these functional areas. Supply chain operations depict a functional area that requires high levels of physicality thus presenting more males than females. Other functional technical areas including LMIS do not present any major
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behavioural characteristics with the exception of extended hours of work as Carine aptly attested to and you observe that both genders are fairly represented here. Matthew
5 Dear members; 1.What are the behavioural expectations of the health logistics and supply chain workforce and what impact does this have on the participation of women and men in the sector? Our cultural behavioural considerations still negatively impact the women participation in the health logistic and supply chain sector as well as the gender approach in general. In this cultural (I'm African) consideration, the women would be removed from the heavy works. Logistic is still considered just as the health products physical distribution activities (loading/offloading, as said by Carine Olinga). So we would continue the efforts of institutionalization of logistic functions from which the good clarifications of logistic tasks would stimulate equal men and women participation 2. What stops women from joining the health logistics and supply chain work force? The above environmental consideration usually stop women to join logistics jobs. Also the health system (not necessarily the men) which still consider the above bad logistic conception, give few chances to some ambitious women who are trying to join this sector. François
6 Hello everyone This is my first contribution to a discussion in this respected group! I've graduated from the University of Ahfad for women, it is only for women to the memorial of the pioneer and leader of women education in Sudan; Sheikh Babikir Badry 1907. I have this passion about public health issues since my undergraduate study! We are brought up in this university as independent, educated and passionate women that believe in themselves and their potentialities... Serving as UN VOLUNTEER in UNDP-‐GFATM, and being based at the national medical supplies (previously Central medical supplies), as supply chain associate had provided me with the opportunity to fulfil my passion about public health logistics and availed me with a chance to discover how to use what others believe as a weakness and positively change it into an opportunity and strength advantage. Public health logistics' requirements in my own point of view are all about dedication in achieving availability and accessibility of quality health commodities to meet the 6 rights or the 7 rights according to Pam update. Let us think it over, Dedication; I think it is crystal clear that a dedicated woman won't be stopped by any barriers from reaching the required objectives; even if it is about long shifts and tough working conditions! What I am really proud of is that in Sudan; especially in NMSF, we have so many females logisticians whom are highly competitive and qualified to lead the public health logistics movements in Sudan;
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I strongly agreed with Pam when I attended that course of SCCD, when we had a discussion about how humanitarian field is the right choice for a woman, by making use of their affection and true care about others. The behavioural expectations of the health logistics and supply chain are well suited for women as well as -‐if not more-‐ for men, and it is just about the time to female public logisticians to take the lead! Even in the crisis and stressful situations; female logisticians prove to be trust worthy and very efficient handling them! As long as we are the half of the society and we are bringing up the other half; we are entitled to hold any position in supply chain management activities! I can't wait to read the rest of the emails I received about this topic! All respect to all members. Regards Alaa
7 You seem to be rightly placed for this discussion. In your experience, which sector of the humanitarian supply chain have a good representation from women or do you think fair involvement of women cut across all sectors of the chain? Thanks, Matthew
8 Greetings I see women behind shop counters, market stalls and carrying products to sell on their heads or in their hands. Is this not supply chain? I see women carrying wood or water far beyond my means and working ridiculous hours in the fields. Cooking and sharing out the food to their families. Does this not make them capable of doing distribution? The level of education they have received may limit their abilities to communicate or calculate but there are ways and means around this to make use of the skills they do have. I have simply tried to earn respect regardless of what sex I am and only in a couple of places have I felt that the supply chain might be compromised because I am a woman but I found ways around that too. Whilst I am physically able I will pitch into carrying goods with my team if appropriate. It does mean bruises and broken nails but it helps my fitness levels if I carry safely. But yes if the job involves leaving your area or country then there are the sacrifices in your personal life that you have to decide if it's worth it and I have been grateful to my friends for stepping up to support my mother when I am not around. Katie
9 Thank you ladies, Carine, Alaa and Katie who have responded to my desperate call for women to 'come out' ! Now I know they are there, and they care about gender and diversity! And thank you too to the men who have continued to see this discussion progress by sharing their experiences with respect and appreciation of the gender barriers for both men and women in health and humanitarian interventions. I have always know that health and humanitarian requires a diverse workforce, men and women working together and complementing each other and producing fantastic results. This diversity in IAPHL is our strength, and critical in operations where lives are at risk.
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This is Aggie's week for moderation so I will leave the rest to her to comment on, but I will share this from my experience. Health and humanitarian arena is still a male -‐dominated profession. I have worked hard to become recognised as an experienced practitioner who understands logistics & supply chain in health and humanitarian situations-‐not just because I am a woman. I have derived much career satisfaction knowing that my contribution saves lives and helps restore dignity and hope to the victims of diseases and human made and natural disasters. However, when my daughters were younger (they are 27 and 25 yrs old if you are wondering:)) it was a challenge balancing my career development with being a mother and a wife but I still enjoyed my career. I remember the days when I would sit in conferences with global heads of humanitarian logistics 98% of who were male, I always made sure my voice was heard in the room. So, yes, like Carine, Alaa and Katie have pointed, it is about what drives you, what you are passionate about and if it is saving others lives then it does not know gender! There are things that can be done to address some of the challenges that have been mentioned but that is a subject for discussion next week led by Andrew Brown. In all my career life I have always encouraged women to venture into logistics and supply chain as it develops hard skills with the potential for career progression and satisfaction. Someone just told me to keep quiet........that's just what I am going to do right away! Let's hear from you, those who care about gender and diversity! Pamela
10 Dear Aggie Kalungu/Dear All, Thanks for the question and the drive to get colleagues to respond. I quite agree with you on some of the points giving on the question ‘What are the behavioural expectations of the health logistics and supply chain workforce and what impact does this have on the participation of women and men in the sector?’ In addition to your points above, from experience, I have also observed that because of the place and position giving to health logistics and supply chain in most health facilities, the workforce posted and working there are very inadequate, and the logistics officers are saddled with a lot of work to the extent of carrying very heavy commodities all by themselves, which most women will not do as it requires a lot of energy too. Another reason also is that health logistics and supply management programs are not common in majority of the universities and most commodity managers do not have direct training in logistics and supply management as a first degree from the university. So posting one to work in the supply chain management office is most times based on the discretion of the head of the unit. With the new trend and technological development (electronic LMIS) in health logistics and supply chain management, I see an influx of the females health commodity logistic officers, in the near future, and this influx have started already for real. These are just my personal opinion and observation. Austin.
11 Dear members, I do not have any direct experience in the field of Supply Chain, but I have found an article that it is strongly related to the subject and you may find of interest: Measuring the effect of gender-‐based aid http://phys.org/news/2015-‐09-‐effect-‐gender-‐based-‐aid.html Kind regards, *Simon
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12 Dear Aggie and all, As the week’s discussion draws to a close, I’d like to encourage women in health and humanitarian logistics and supply chain, and those aspiring to join and not miss the opportunity to experience this wonderful career. They just need to follow their hearts, be more confident, have more self-‐belief, learn to speak up on issues they care about, and to take their place at the podium or table! In my experience in past humanitarian logistics and supply chain operations I rarely saw women in the field, and the few who were there were either involved in admin roles, or if they attended logistics cluster meetings they were often the note takers but not coordinators or team leaders, those role tended to be filled by men which made me wonder whether it was the recruiting policy or recruiters biased against women or skilled supply chain women were lacking….. However, I have come across a few women who chose to follow their hearts, and who I admire for their braveness, commitment and professionalism in contributing to the noble course of restoring hope and dignity to people affected by disease or disasters. Among the few role models I know in my network are Tabinda Syed from Pakistan; Eva Ntenge from Uganda; Rachida Abdeli from France; former head of logistics for Save the Children, Naomi Bourne; Associate Director for ACF, USA, Nathalie Rothschild etc. who have been in the frontline where things happen in the first phase of many disasters including the recent big ones, making things happen! Other role models at strategic level include Shanelle Hall, Director, UNICEF Supply Division; Ertharin Cousin, Director, World Food Programme both organizations with huge logistics operations. And if you look further in humanitarian and development there are women in executive positions who I admire also, they include, former executive director for Oxfam, Barbara Stocking and Jasmine Whitebread, the first chief executive of Save the Children International to mention a few. For me, my career and my passion was intertwined and drove me to venture into the macho dominated career until I hanged my boots a few years ago because there’s always a time for everything and my time had come to give way to the new comer young blood to carry on from where I left. I derived so much satisfaction from it, so go for it because health and humanitarian logistics and supply chain is also a career for women. Health and humanitarian requires a diverse workforce to address health and humanitarian challenges that affect both genders, particularly women who tend to bear the brunt of most disasters, be it from disease or natural or human made calamities. Thank you all very much for the stimulating discussion, I’m proud of all of you and proud to be an IAPHL member where I feel I have professional buddies in men and women. In the filed working together, side by side with men then so much can be achieved to improve the health of our people. Get WISED up, click here to read the experiences of other women and learn more about gender and health and humanitarian supply chains. I can't wait for Andrew's discussion! I am now off to go fishing to feed my children….shhhhhh, I heard someone whisper that ‘ Pam, that’s a job for men’…so who will feed my children if I don’t do it?... I’m out of here, until next time Pam
13 You guys need to discuss what is the attitude of local underdeveloped government, donors, consultant, expats, INGs, NGOs towards Logistics. Why no one invests on SCMS? Like the private sector? How important is SCMS to Wal-‐Mart? How can we get SCMS it's rightful place in the planning process? Why is only logisticians or SCMS blamed if there shortage or wastage? Why is SCMS's contribution not recognized when a program becomes successful? If you construct a beautiful swimming pool, it useless without water. It is like designing a great program with no supplies. We need to work on the importance of SCMS and this message across to the so-‐called development planners. Once we do this
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the gender issue will take care of itself Comment by Pangday
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Dear all Thank you for an enlightening discussion on this forum. This is also my first time to be commenting in this respected and professional arena. I believe the problem with gender representation itself goes back further into the roots of the parent Logistics Profession. In most developing countries, whether in the private, public or humanitarian sector, the logistics profession is yet to receive the recognition and support it deserves as a standalone profession or career path. This is evidenced by the scarcity and near unavailability of logistics academic and professional courses for our profession leading to an unclear path for a career in logistics, so in most cases candidates trickle in from male dominated physically demanding commercial transport and shipping field which demands strenuous working hours and at most times geographical displacement. In this context women generally tend to shun this profession as the cost of raising a family might prove too high for a career choice. So it is my belief that if our profession gets the publicity and enters into mainstream curricula in academic circles, balanced representation might be realized. Regards Albert
15 Dear Colleagues , I my candid opinion, SC and specifically logistics practice in regions like the Sub-‐Sahara has been mainly done in a manual way. Women are mostly engaged in the practice to carry out administrative functions. Manual handling of supplies which is predominant in our set-‐up is not friendly to women considering the risk aspect. Most warehouses are not well equipped, and in situations where there're forklift the manual handling of supplies still exist. One way to resolve the situation is automation of warehouse and well equipped warehouse to make the environment safer and friendly towards women. David
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Appendix F: Participant Responses for Theme 3 Questions 1 and 2 were posted at different times in the discussion of Week 3 and so responses are divided based on this. Question 1: Post no.
Response
1 No gender barrier in Nigerian logistics policies. It is a mix. By: OKPO
2 Some of the gender barriers I have noted depending on program requirements can include; Policy issues -‐ sudden changes in policies such as a requirement that motorcycles are used as the preferred transport means for officers when providing technical supportive supervision. Many women do not ride motorcycles. Workforce development -‐refresher courses where one has to be away from home for months -‐ do not favour women with babies. Additional responsibilities related to some of the logistics work e.g. providing maintenance services to cold chain equipment especially where manual work is called for. Victoria
3 The majority of my professional experience comes from a large INGO which had HR policies that had been developed with a great deal of thought. I am glad to say that they were pretty effective in treating people equally. That said, I cannot stress enough the importance of engaging with staff when it comes to writing/revising policies. Staff must be invited, listened to and their ideas/concerns fully considered. Then, when the policy is rolled-‐out, people need to be briefed on the content of the policy, its application and the consequences of failing to adhere to it. Anna
4 *From my humanitarian logistics experience I can share that where & how a job is advertised can itself create limitations. Clearly this depends upon the role, but consider for a moment:* *It doesn't make sense to post an advert online if few people have internet access. Radio adverts can reach a wide audience, but is the cost justified? A physical advert at the office gate will have little effect if the office is on the outskirts of the city where there is little foot-‐traffic and therefore less safe.* *Organisations need to think more creatively when it comes to reaching people. Adverts need to be placed where the right people will see them – where people can pass easily, safely and frequently. A local clinic/hospital/market/eatery/internet cafés/women's centre noticeboards/sandwich boards can be extremely effective.* *People spend a lot of money printing (often lengthy) CVs and buying envelopes. It would be nice to provide them with guidelines for their application to help the applicant and the personnel reviewing it too. Even providing the means to photocopy their CVs or giving them application form type questions to help them structure their application. The time spent trying to create long lists & short lists from CVs not demonstrating competencies required for positions could be better spent in other ways.*
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*You also need to consider whether your staff and working environment are conducive/attractive/encouraging to the types of applicants you're claiming you want.* *Katie
5 Dear All, I completely agree with Katie. It is extremely difficult to resource good quality candidates in areas where internet access are not possible. Often these potential consultants miss out on opportunities for career progression purely because we are unsure as to how to attract them. Most companies seem to use Linked In, Dev Ex and Dev Aid as we do. However any local knowledge such as good newspapers, places to put up posters, local clinics etc., are not often passed on. To be able to attract a wider audience when advertising for urgent roles would truly be a blessing. My advice, ensure whoever is approaching you knows the local lay of the land and where to attract your attention! Best Sharon
Question 2: Post No.
Response
1 Dear IAPHLers What would be done: I know that many countries have policies related to gender equality. The supply chain is one of the health systems which is one of the many other governmental sectors. a).The countries who have the acceptable gender equality regulations, would implement the strategies for their more applicability. On this matter, not only the government, but the others civil and professional organizations must be involved. b).The countries without the acceptable gender equality regulations, must do all to promote this Policy. Thank you; By: François
2 Hello all, I have been (rather silently) following this discussion over the past few weeks and have very much enjoyed it. Addis Demisse linked an post from SCM (Women in supply chain: a golden opportunity <http://www.scmworld.com/columns/beyond-‐supply-‐chain/women-‐in-‐supply-‐chain-‐-‐a-‐golden-‐opportunity/>) that discussed the outlook of men and women the field. I found a very interesting takeaway to be that while a man WILL apply to a position in which he only meets one of the five requirements, a woman WILL NOT apply a position when she meets only four of the five requirements. I looked around a bit more into the literature on men and women in general in the workplace, leading me to this article: Unlocking the full potential of women in the US economy <http://www.mckinsey.com/client_service/organization/latest_thinking/unlocking_the_full_potential>. Granted, this article is focused on the US economy, but I feel there are
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some important points that can be generalized across this type of work. About two thirds of the way down the article, the section of "What holds women back" highlights key barriers of for women in the workforce, and to some extent this IAPHL discussion has touched upon very similar points. It may be that individual organizations need to assess how to ease these barriers in order to recruit and hire women in the first place. I am not suggesting "ease of work" or an "ease of the role," but simply noting that different wording of a recruitment advertisement might attract more women to even apply. Perhaps worded in a way that a woman with four of the five requirements would feel encouraged to submit her application! I'd like to make one final note from the McKinsey link based on this quote: "Several diversity officers and experts told us that despite their best efforts, women are often evaluated for promotions primarily on performance, while men are promoted on potential." I wonder what can be made to balance this standard from both the perspective of employers and employees. Although I didn't offer specific solutions, I hope this helps to contribute! Brigid
3 Hi, Policies that promote gender equality in workplaces will not equate immediate changes to the expectation of gender especially in environment where culture and traditions are still predominant. It would take time and time will help us to remove this stigma for our sisters. However to fasten the rate of change, we need to advocate about it. On this note I must also like to promote that we must also consider 'social exclusion' as a barrier also rather than just gender. There many issues that affects social exclusion such as poverty status, people status in the society and etc. which I believe is another real issue that we must also be aware about that adds value to the challenges of gender equality. For example if a potential woman who comes from a lower cast system, then her chances is much lower. Thanks Apolosi
4 There's been very interesting points raised by all who have commented on this particular question from Andrew Brown: "What do you think needs to change in order to create a greater gender balance in health logistics and supply chain careers?" I think that from a policy angle, it is clear that women are held back by outdated stereotypes and a failure to sell the positive aspects of the profession. Women want their work to be socially useful: to attract women, health and humanitarian organizations need to showcase how rewarding these jobs are. Women don’t need to position themselves as unfeminine, setting aside their femininity by dressing in masculine clothes and being tough, aggressive. Their ability as logisticians should not be judged by their ability to be ‘one of the boys’. In some organizations or field offices, the working environment has practical barriers preventing work-‐life integration, especially for those with responsibility for caring for children or looking after aged parents. Barriers can be created by long working hours or working away from home. Not many organizations offer part-‐time or flexible working hours. Health and humanitarian organizations need to embrace progressive policies that
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encourage women to join and to create an environment that enables them to unleash their hidden potential to benefit fully from their contribution. Some contributors highlighted where jobs are advertised considering that not everyone is a member of Devex, or Relief Web, Linkedin or other online advertising platform. Not many people in developing countries have Internet access or can afford it. And thank you Motomoke for sharing about AWESOME (achieving women’s excellence in supply chain operations, management, and education). There are other practical actions that can be taken in our sector. For example, in 2006, with a few colleagues I founded the Women’s Initiative for Supply Chain Excellence (WISE) in response to the Indian Ocean tsunami out of concern that many relief supplies lacked gender sensitivity and that women's hygiene was poorly handled or over looked. We received much support of from the humanitarian sector including some senior male humanitarian logisticians. WISE concluded that humanitarian programmes need a diverse workforce, including both men and women, to fully appreciate the varying needs and aspirations of beneficiaries. We hoped that WISE would play a valuable role in supporting female humanitarian logisticians who felt isolated within the sector and encourage others into the profession. WISE inspired research into gender and humanitarian logistics and published a booklet of inspirational stories of men and women in the sector. Today, WISE continues as an informal professional networking group on LinkedIn with over 500 members of both genders from the humanitarian, private and academic sectors Following IAPHL’s engaging discussion on gender it is clear that similar practical approaches are needed to support women in the health supply chain. WISE adopted a three-‐prong strategy to accomplish its mission: (1) encouraging equal opportunity for women in organisations’ hiring policy for logistics and supply chain professionals; (2) supporting further education and development of both female and male logisticians on gender issues and professional training throughout their careers; and (3) providing a mentorship program that offered members access to top-‐level professionals for one-‐on-‐one career advice to newer members, encouraging individuals to develop their full potential and supporting women working in the field. These are some practical activities that could inspire both female health and humanitarian logisticians. Pam
5 I have been following this interesting discourse and it seem the general consensus is that workplace policies are encumbrances to the progression of women in logistics and other spheres of work. While this may be true, it is a big contrast in the organization that I work with as it consciously drives for the selection, recruitment and retention of women. Beginning with recruitment, every advert placed by my organizations states that " we are an equal opportunity organization and women are encouraged to apply" and selection does not discriminate. The constitution of the interview panel always includes women to ensure gender equality and equity and rights are not trampled upon during the interviews noting that issues relating to women can best be protected by women and men. Also, gender sensitive and discriminating questions are seriously frowned at during interviews Upon recruitment, we have policies that ensure the retention of women such as
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-‐ Women are expected to observe the mandatory maternity period -‐ Upon resumption at work with the child under one year, the organization pays the travel allowance of the child, nanny and staff where a task to be performed is outside the base and this include foreign assignments. -‐ There is no discrimination in remuneration across sections in the organization. This has resulted in more women climbing the managerial positions and excelling in their duties. Currently, the head of logistics and regulatory affairs and national sales managers are women. Sometimes, the males feel discriminated by these policies. Damola
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Dear IAPHL members, The involvement of women in the recruitment and constitution of interview panel is laudable. Moreover, the observance of maternity and provision of allowance for the child, nanny and staff is highly commendable. In my organization, a woman is the chief executive and women are given priority attention in any employment opportunity, promotion, sponsorship, etc. This has resulted in many women attaining top managerial positions. I believe women have a lot to contribute to the society, hence they should be encouraged. -‐Eshiet,