Women leaders in logistics

Europartners Group head of ocean import, Michele Lira, was one of the panelists in a forum promoted by T21 Magazine.

Do you think that women have had more opportunities in the transport and logistics sectors in Mexico in the last few years? What should be done so that more women leaders occupy high leadership positions? Do still notice discrepancies between conduct towards men and women –and salaries– in both sectors?

These three questions were asked to the participants of the panel “women leaders in logistics”, promoted by the T21 Magazine on August 25, 2020. One of the panelists was Europartners Group head of ocean import and international network director, Michele Lira.

The six panelists share the view that the transportation and logistics sectors have made important advances in recent years, but “we have moved forward a lot, but there’s still a long way to go”, defines Ariadna Gómez, ocean product manager at Geodis. “There’s still a long path ahead of us; the road is marked, but inequality is still a thing and it is everyone’s responsibility to implement the changes”, added Diana Sumano, ONE sales manager.

They also agree that companies promote equity when they focus on results.

What do women leaders make differently?

“With our humanistic and holistic view, we can enrich the whole work team”, said Karolina Pulido, CEO of G.I.Eicom, on the extra contribution of women in the logistics and transport market.

“We are very attentive to details. The truth is: everyone, men and women, should have global visions of our businesses, of our companies. But we women look further and put a little bit more time into other areas to improve our jobs,” added Luz Elena Jurado, Volvo Trucks Director-General of Mexico, the first Mexican women to become director of a heavy transport company.

For Karolina Pulido, the strength of equal work between men and women is in their differences. “We have distinct and complementary visions. When you understand that and invite your male counterpart to create products and services, they come out much better. Counting with the support of colleagues is essential”, says the CEO.

“Seeing is believing”

Michele Lira, from Europartners Group, highlighted the importance of representation in the professional growth of women in the logistics sector. “Ariadna was my mentor. Seeing her in a high-direction position motivated me, made me want to grow. It’s a ‘seeing is believing’ thing,” defined Michele.

For Ariadna, having more women leaders in the high-direction positions “is not something complex. It is about creating real opportunities,” pointed the manager. “There’s lots of women capable to occupy these positions, but real opportunities are lacking, sometimes due to internal company policies, sometimes due to the lack of a leader who believes that a woman could occupy a high position”, she explained.

Michele Lira, from Europartners Group, presented seven advice to all women who want to grow in the logistics and transport sectors, and a question to reflect on:

Dare. Sometimes the paradigms to be broken are within us. “Overcome the fear of stereotypes to break barriers,” says Karolina Pulido.
Go forward step by step. The leadership does not arrive all of a suddent.
Search for opportunities (but get ready for them). Have clarity of what is missing in your training and experience to get to your ideal position, so that when the opportunity arises, you are prepared and no one will dare to tell you “no”.
Bring sorority and sisterhood to your daily life. “If we had the privilege of having that opportunity we wanted, it is up to us to open more doors to new generations, to diminish the gaps,” says Ilse Fernández, executive-director of Trancasa.
Inspire. We never know who we are inspiring, but lots of people are paying attention to us all the time.
Share knowledge. It demands a little more of your time but do it anyway.
Motivate. Encourage women to work to reach your position. Motivate them to go further.
Question for reflection: What doors are you opening for equality?

Equity policies

Diana Sumano highlighted the importance of creating equity policies in companies. “It is your ability, not your gender, that can open up some opportunities for you. It is important to know if the people [who work in the companies] have been properly evaluated in relation to their capabilities”, observes the manager.

Europartners Group encourages the creation and development of different committees –such as diversity, life balance, talent attraction, ethics, among others– dedicated to achieving equal opportunities for all Europartners talents. This is one of the tools that enable us to reach the Top 10 ranking of the Top Companies in Mexico in 2020!

Database:

65% of higher education courses related to logistics are occupied by men (Karolina Pulido, CEO of G.I.Eicom).

A UNESCO study in 2019 show that less than 25% of jobs in the GAFAM technology area –the web giants: Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft– are occupied by women (Karolina Pulido, CEO of GIEicom).

In Mexico, only 17% of women have a CEO position. Five out of every 10 women perceive that it is more difficult to be hired in a high-level position because they are women (Michele Lira, head of ocean import and international network director, Europartners Group).

Women leaders in high-management positions bring better results to companies; the performance of innovation only increased significantly when more than 20% of management positions were held by women (Michele Lira, head of ocean import and international network director, Europartners Group, quoting a study from Grant Thornton).

Women spend between 10 to 20 hours a week on domestic services and between 8 and 15 hours taking care of their children, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography of Mexico (INEGI); men only spend 14 hours in total on those activities (Michele Lira, head of ocean import and international network director, Europartners Group).

Regarding leadership, 26 out of every 100 high-management positions are occupied by women leaders, which makes Mexico the best ranked country among the strongest economies on the continent. In Brazil and Argentina, women leaders occupy 25 and 20 out of every 100 management points, respectively (Michele Lira, head of ocean import and international network director, Europartners Group, quoting a study from Grant Thornton).