News

Why employ a woman? That was just one of the provocative questions asked at the third Women In Transport conference, organised by Skills For Logistics (SfL) and the Freight Transport Association in London last week. The potentially provocative answer was multi-faceted: woman are more likely to seek compromise than men they are more likely to be aware of group dynamics (and how their decisions can affect them) they have better mediation and anger management skills and they may well be better organised.

In short, women are naturally strong on what many men in business are having to learn: emotional intelligence - that key business tool of the noughties. Thus, any initiative that seeks to attract more women to the industry should be applauded - and actively supported by the industry. SfL has a £1m grant, which needs to be used by the end of March 2008. It is there to help 575 women train to be drivers, another 500 to train for warehousing positions, and another 200 already in middle management roles to be mentored to achieve further progression.

And yet the slow uptake (set against what must be seen as a short window of opportunity) means SfL could lose the grant. And the concern that this slow uptake could adversely affect SfL's future funding applications is deeply worrying. SfL's data reveals that the industry needs 24,000 drivers to be recruited each year until 2014 - and that target will be so much easier to meet if we're not automatically ignoring one half  of the potential talent pool. Go to the SfL website to find out how you can get involved - and do it now!