Coinciding with Women’s Month in South Africa, leading supply chain industry body SAPICS has shared the results of its latest survey on Women in Supply Chain Leadership. This is Part 1 of a two-part series.
Another striking insight is that 46% of men believe ‘family commitments’ are the biggest challenge facing female leaders. But only 10% of women agree. Freepik
Both men and women participated and one of the most troubling findings is a significant difference in how workplace equity is perceived by each gender, SAPICS says.
The results show that women and men have quite different realities on workplace fairness, with 89 percent of men asserting that career advancement opportunities are equal for both genders and only 57 percent of women surveyed feeling the same way. More than a third of the women respondents strongly disagreed with this statement.
This disconnect raises red flags, according to SAPICS. “If male leaders don’t see a problem, it’s harder to solve one.”
The gender pay gap and perception problems
The survey also highlighted major disparities in perceptions of pay equity. While 63% of men believe salaries are largely equal, only 25% of women feel the same. A concerning result is that 45% of women suspect that men are paid more for the same work. This divergence, or salary suspicion gap, as SAPICS has dubbed it, points to potential issues with pay transparency and the persistence (or strong perception) of a gender pay gap. “Men’s general confidence in equality contrasts sharply with women’s widespread suspicion of disparity. This underscores the critical need for organisations to proactively ensure and clearly communicate equitable compensation practices,” SAPICS states.
Transparency is also an issue in 2025, according to the survey results. Three quarters of the male respondents think that their organisations have transparent pay policies, but only a quarter of the women agree. This suggests a dangerous gap not only in policy, but in trust, SAPICS contends.
Misplaced assumptions about barriers
Another striking insight is that 46% of men believe ‘family commitments’ are the biggest challenge facing female leaders. But only 10% of women agree. Instead, women identify limited opportunities (41%), a male-dominated industry (33%) and gender bias (29%) as their greatest challenges.
SAPICS notes that this shows that support strategies must be based on real barriers not assumptions. “If we’re trying to fix the wrong problems, we’re wasting time and reinforcing inequality.”
Source: SAPICS
