‘Lack of respect for women still a key challenge’ – Women in Wholesale

The wholesale industry is shaping up to be a great place to work but a lack of respect for women is still a key challenge, according to a study commissioned by Women in Wholesale.

Key improvements include a decrease in gender discrimination in the workplace – women who said they had experienced issues dropped from 57% in 2019 to 36% in 2021.

Support for the diversity agenda has become more important since COVID, according to 20% of respondents, while 65% said it was as important as it was before.

More than half of respondents (54%) agreed that their company is doing enough to achieve gender balance at the top.

Wellbeing support in the sector is also looking positive, with 44% of respondents’ companies having mental health first aiders and a third offering meditation or mindfulness seminars.

75% of respondents said they were offered more flexibility in terms of working hours during COVID and 78% had more flexibility with location – much of this will continue into the longer term, according to the research.

However, women are still facing some of the same barriers to progress. 28% of respondents cited a ‘lack of respect’ as the biggest challenge for women working in the sector, with no improvements since 2019, followed by lack of opportunities (20%).

44% said that career development is the main area of their job that they need support with, followed by time management (27%) and managing people (24%).

The research was conducted by Lumina Intelligence with wholesalers, buying groups and suppliers.

wiw@fwd-uk.com

 

Published Date: August 18, 2021
Category: Wholesale Industry News