In historical terms, the procurement area is composed mostly of men, but this reality is changing already.

According to Gartner, women respond today for 39% of the workforce in the supply chain.

The survey also points out that only 14% of them hold executive and leadership positions in the area.

In March, the month in which we celebrate the many achievements of women over recent times, we are promoting awareness about gender differences that persist around the world.

We will have the participation of women who are leaders in the procurement area of large-sized companies, through interviews conducted by Mercado Eletrônico, to talk about their key achievements and career challenges.

In addition to this content, which will be published on our blog throughout the month, we will have an episode of ME Cast, our podcast dedicated to this highly relevant topic. Subscribe to our YouTube channel here and receive a notification when the video will go live.

Keep on reading!

Women’s skills drive B2B business

Several studies have shown that diversified teams are vital to strengthen the plurality of ideas – which in turn brings innovation and, consequently, greater profitability to businesses.

See below the main benefits of having women on procurement teams:

  1. Resilience:

Resilience is one of the most important skills in the industry, and women tend to adapt easily to distinct scenarios and respond more quickly to changes.

  1. Communication skills:

Most women are at ease when communicating with other people, and this can contribute to a better bargaining power during negotiations and to strengthen relationships with suppliers.

  1. Attention to details:

Those who work in the procurement area know how challenging it is to deal with a large amount of data and information, on a daily basis. Therefore, attention to detail is essential.

  1. Empathy:

During negotiations, women tend to seek benefits for both sides – buyers and suppliers; and this strengthens the relationship between businesses.

  1. The ‘social’ item of ESG:

Engagement to ESG is only growing within businesses. Having more women in your procurement area is one way to contribute to a global agenda for women’s empowerment.

How can you promote gender equality in your procurement area?

To begin with, you must understand that gender equality is beneficial not only for women, but also for men, businesses and society as a whole.

In addition to increasing the presence of women in the sector, diversity criteria must be considered during supplier selection. In this way, you can go beyond the walls of your organization and positively impact the whole supply chain.

Women can significantly contribute to improvements and changes in the area. Therefore, encouraging their participation in decision-making and leadership is one of the paths to decrease disparity between men and women in the supply chain.

And last but not least, it’s vital to have a code of ethics and conduct, with policies against harassment and discrimination of any kind towards women.

Simple attitudes like these, in addition to effectively helping to leverage the results of your procurement area, can impact the growth of this industry in a positive way.

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See you next time! 😉