International Women’s Day: views from the project profession

Tuesday 8 March 2022 is International Women’s Day. To mark the occasion, Association for Project Management (APM) invited women in the project profession to offer their insights on some of the issues and themes that are relevant to female project practitioners.

Here, Hazel Jell ChPP, agile delivery manager at The National Archives; Reetu Kansal FAPM, senior project manager, student services at the University of London; and APM president Sue Kershaw, share their thoughts.

79 per cent of female project managers worked in a different career prior to joining our profession. The most common reason for switching was that they wanted to try something new.

Reetu Kansal: More women are seeing project management as an attractive career for the flexibility and variety it offers. They can try out different technical and non-technical areas to identify where they can contribute most and what interests them most.

Sue Kershaw: We could get even more women interested in project careers by reaching bigger and wider networks, such as returners. Women like the logic, variety and challenge of project management, and with agile/dynamic working now the norm, it’s even more attractive.

‘Climate change and achieving net zero’ is the issue that women are most likely to view as the single biggest challenge facing the project profession. The ongoing impacts of the pandemic and Brexit were joint second.

Hazel Jell: ​No matter the sector we work in, the potential impact of our projects on climate change – and how we can promote sustainability – are important considerations. I agree that these challenges are significant across all projects, but I think the importance of each can change, depending on the specifics of each project. ​

Sue Kershaw: I think the climate challenge will bring more diversity and talent to the project profession, because it’s something that profoundly affects us all. I’m not surprised to see that Brexit and the pandemic are also at the forefront of women’s minds – they have created real momentum behind delivering better, fairer and greener. I’m optimistic that as our profession becomes more diverse, we will see richer and deeper collaboration to achieve these goals.

Reetu Kansal: Global research has shown that women are more impacted by the climate emergency compared with men. This is due to some gender inequalities that persist in the project profession and the fact that most of the poorer population of the world is female. The pandemic highlighted the gender disparity within households and the markedly more detrimental impact of the pandemic on women juggling personal and professional responsibilities. Brexit has been seen as a feminist issue by many, and exemplifies the role of women in leading in a crisis or times of change.

67 per cent of female project professionals think more project managers are needed in their industry/sector to address the climate crisis.

Sue Kershaw: I definitely agree with this and I want APM to lead the profession when it comes to achieving net zero. I also want to see the profession being more inclusive and proactively planning to create social and economic, as well as environmental, value for communities. Both these considerations will require adoption of ever more innovative approaches and I hope that this will also prove attractive to new entrants to the profession.

Reetu Kansal: Project professionals are important influencers in their organisations. They have a role to play in addressing the climate crisis. The fact that global research has shown that women are more impacted by the climate emergency compared with men leads more female project managers to take initiative on this agenda.

36 per cent of women working on projects believe the profession’s skills shortage has either not improved, or become worse over the past five years. Only 2 per cent don’t think there is a skill shortage.

Hazel Jell: Over the past few years, I've noticed an increasing desire for change, which will amplify the impacts of any skills shortage, putting pressure on both project professionals and other colleagues who take on extra responsibilities as a result. I've also been involved in discussions around difficulty in recruiting in project roles, which supports the idea that there is a skills shortage, or at least a shortage of the 'right' skills in the 'right' places.

Sue Kershaw: With the rise of the project profession, there is more work out there. I think that, with fewer and fewer skilled employees in the world of work, the gap is widening. The UK needs about 80,000 engineers a year and we produce approximately 20,000. Many UK businesses are looking to recruit from places like Hong Kong. These are very talented people, with a strong drive to succeed, but these are short term fixes. We need a proper resourcing strategy backed by industry and government to alleviate the skills shortage in the long term.

Increasing people's awareness of project management and having clearer career pathways into the profession are the main ways women feel more talent can be encouraged to join the project profession.

Sue Kershaw: A good thing about project management is that there are many ways women can get into it. From Student membership of APM right through to Chartered Project Professional (ChPP) status, there’s something at every level. That makes project management more enticing and inclusive than other professions. People don’t necessarily need a certain degree from a certain university. Not everyone’s career is like that and APM does a good job of recognising this.

Hazel Jell: This doesn't just count for female talent, but all talent! There’s a vast variety of project-related roles across all sectors that perhaps aren't obvious as a career choice. Increasing awareness of the roles, skills, and career paths would help to make this an obvious choice for young people and others seeking a career change.

68 per cent of female project professionals feel more confident managing uncertainty in projects now than they did at the start of the pandemic.

Reetu Kansal: Women are generally proven to lead better in crises. The pandemic has been a real test of resilience, empathy and persistence in the midst of uncertainty. After surpassing the most challenging phase of uncertainty posed by the pandemic, female project professionals feel better equipped through experience and a focus on wellbeing.

Hazel Jell: I agree with this, and think there could be a number of contributing factors. For example, personal development and growth during the pandemic, alongside a visible increase in (or, perhaps openness about) uncertainty at all levels of business, and others sharing experiences on social media.

Sue Kershaw: At its heart, managing uncertainty is risk management. For me, it isn’t surprising that female project managers have become more confident managing uncertainty during the pandemic, because they’ve had to, as most of us have – and this will only stand them in good stead for the future.