Exploring the Need for More Women in Leadership Roles in Public Health and Emergency Response Logistics

Introduction

Catastrophes often mandate logistics planning and workforce expertise that can effectively execute the large-scale transportation of medical aid in the form of personnel and supplies, specialized equipment and personnel for search and rescue, food, shelter, and other commodities used in massive relief operations (Strakos, 2013; Kirac, 2016).

As a result, unpredictable, complex emergencies and disasters create problem scenarios that create overbearing supply and resource demands (Aly, 2016; De La Torre, 2015). In situations that create public health risks, the inability to respond appropriately can lead to injury and a loss of life (Peluse, 2015). Public health logistics and supply chain experts are required to assume a high level of preparedness for and detection, response, and recovery from disaster events (Bader et al., 2008). Threats of pandemics such as the SARS emergency and threats of avian influenza reminded health care providers of the need to be watchful for alterations in community health patterns (Agca, 2013). As the public health severity and impact Coronavirus (COVID-19) intensifies, preemptive forecasting, in which leaders foresee threats and structure the use and delivery of those resources in effort to minimize all potential health hazards and risks (Hick et al., 2020).

Figure 1.

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One of the vulnerabilities in the public health emergency and disaster response includes depleted volunteer numbers and a lack of adequate career staffing levels (Peluse, 2015). The current staffing shortages in emergency response public health, humanitarian disaster relief, and logistics management have taxed our response system, increased response times, and left patients without adequate levels of care (Peluse, 2015). As a result of the complexity and often unpredictable nature of the required response, there is a need to develop more professionals in all areas of logistics and supply chain management, especially women and women in managerial roles. According to Larson (2017), there are benefits to having diversity, which includes women, in teams, in leadership, and decision making. Larson (2017) stresses how diverse teams make better decisions 87% of the time, and decisions made by diverse teams deliver on average 60% better results.

Grant and Rock (2016) outline that greater diversity in organizations and teams positively influences the way the entire team digest critical information required to make difficult decisions. Diverse teams are more likely to continually reassess details in decision-making scenarios because the team is made of participants that look at variables from a variety of perspectives, and they tend to be more innovative (Grant & Rock, 2016). When it comes to public health disaster management and emergency response logistics and supply chain management, better decisions making results can result in lives saved and fewer injuries.

According to Annabi and Lebovitz (2018), women comprise 57% of the professional workforce in the United States, yet Gartner (2018) Women in Supply Chain Survey outlines that there a significant shortage of women in leadership roles in supply chain and logistics management. Gartner (2018) found that 38% of employees in supply chain and logistics management are women, and only 14% of the senior leaders are women, down from 15% in 2017. Similarly, Figures 2 and 3 support the notion that there is still a gender gap in senior leadership roles in supply chain management.

Figure 2.

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Figure 3.

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