Gender mainstreaming in Humanitarian Logistics

Why Are There So Few Female Humanitarian Logisticians?

This apparently simple question was recently posed by Pamela Steele, (the President of the Women's Institute for Supply-Chain Excellence In International Humanitarian Logistics, and Martijn Blansjaar (WISE Chief advisor) in a meeting with two members of the HUMLOG Group, Gyöngyi Kovács (HANKEN) and Peter Tatham (Cranfield University, and later Griffith University). The discussion led to a broader research agenda on gender mainstreaming in humanitarian logistics with the following research questions:

(1) What makes a good humanitarian logistician?

Whilst there have been quite a few studies discussing this general question from the perspective of business and commerce, one cannot assume that that the skills, personal qualities and experience that make up "good" from a business perspective will migrate across to the humanitarian domain.

(2) How does gender relate to the skills and qualities identified above?

To date, there have been few studies on gender issues in logistics. Yet, a recent survey indicates that there are significant differences between female and male leadership styles in logistics. Also, anecdotal evidence suggests that the gender of the logistician has an impact on decisions made for different customer segments, i.e. different groups of beneficiaries in humanitarian logistics.

(3) What is the impact of fe/male logisticians on humanitarian operations?

This question aims at understanding how the paucity of female logisticians affects areas such as needs assessment, local purchasing and last mile deliveries.