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At the Skills for Logistics (SfL) and Freight Transport Association 'Women in Transport 2007 - Better Balance, Better Business' event in London last week, the issue of why the transport industry struggles to attract and retain female staff was up for discussion. The transport sector predominantly employs white males  over 45 and research indicates that a staff shortage may be looming.

The answer, according to Lucinda Ward, director of marketing and research at SfL, is to encourage diversity. Most employers are now facing a skills shortage, but 50% believe there are barriers to entry for women, ethnic groups and the disabled. Ward suggests the recruitment processes employed by the sector do not seek to target and educate these groups.

"A large number of small and medium-sized operators do not have professional HR functions and employers have inflexible working processes. If our industry is to achieve a more diverse workforce we need to consider job design, shift patterns, the comfort and cleanliness of working conditions and cultural issues," she says.

Why women?

Nikki King, UK MD at Isuzu Trucks, asked why people shy away from employing women. "The responses we get are things like  'they'll just settle in the job and get pregnant', but how many men settle in jobs, receive training and then leave to join a competitor?" Another excuse she hears as a reason for not employing women is 'they'll keep taking time off if the children are ill'. But she says in her experience women with children tend to crawl into work rather than take sick leave when they themselves are ill in case they later have to take time off to look after their children.

"We also hear people say 'she hasn't worked since having children', but my answer to that is during that time she has learnt life skills, management skills, time management, the ability to juggle four jobs at once, anger management and mediation skills. She's had her children and is now looking for a serious career for the rest of her life." King adds that women tend to look at things differently, and as the understanding of the importance of emotional intelligence grows in the workplace, women are in demand for qualities such as empathy and understanding.

However women tend to have more challenges to face. King says not only do women bear the responsibility of childcare, they also often end up looking after elderly relatives. "Employers need to consider things such as home working, job share and flexible hours to keep this important element of the workforce in the industry," King concludes.

The 'glass cliff'

Women are under-represented at senior management level - and of those that do make it that far, many then chose to leave. Dr Kim Peters, research fellow at the University of Exeter, says most research has focused on the barriers women face as they climb the career ladder. "But we decided to look at the choices women are making that perhaps means they are under-represented at senior level."

Peters says her research shows that a large percentage of women are choosing to leave high-powered posts because when women are appointed to a leadership position it is disproportionately likely to be a precarious and stressful one. Looking at the FTSE 100 Cranfield index from 2003, which rates companies based on how many women they have on the board, six of the top 10 are under-performing, while all the bottom five - which have no women on the board - are over-performing.

"Further analysis showed companies whose share price was over-performing appointed men to the board, while those with under-performing share prices were more likely to appoint women to the board," Peters says. "So when women break through the glass ceiling they are likely to be appointed to leadership positions which are risky - and this is the glass cliff. This could explain why women choose to leave management roles," she says.