Women In Procurement

Happy women’s day to all the beautiful ladies there!

It is said that, the first recognized International Women’s Day was celebrated by women in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland about one hundred and five years ago. Well that’s a long time! A lot has changed since then. Despite the spectacular gains in women’s rights and encouragement from the laws; gender inequality still prevails in most part of the world. And the same goes for the procurement industry. Conventionally, Procurement is a male dominating industry. Although, women entering the field may be significant but the ones reaching to the top positions are few. So what is it that’s hindering the way?

Along with the basic requirements of being excellent in written communication and in conversation, there are some other few qualities that a procurement professional should have to be successful. Let us look at some of the top qualities that are required by any procurement professional:

• Multitasking — The ability to multitask allows a person to be flexible and scale better whilst completing the tasks on priority/at hand
• Savvy negotiation skills — Swift negotiation skills are a plus when dealing with suppliers, vendors and internal stakeholders is concerned
• Ability to prioritize — Prioritizing tasks allows a person to allocate time to critical tasks faster
• Integrity — Ethics is an important part of the procurement’s role. As an ethical professional, a person should be fair and transparent in all his duties.
• A positive attitude — This one goes without explanation

Research has shown that women have a natural and unique skill set that is specifically beneficial for procurement management: they are better at multitasking, better at emotional intelligence and a preset ability to motivate and leverage teams to compete projects.

Perhaps a super CPO can be a woman too! What according to you will help the young women professional to choose this as their career? Share your views with us in the comments section below.