INDUSTRY FOCUS
No glass ceiling for women in LP
A number of leading female practitioners met in London at the ‘Women in LP’ seminar organised by ORIS Media, the publishers of Loss Prevention Magazine EU earlier this year.
The background to the event, was the fact that according to recent studies, women in senior roles were in the ascendancy, particularly in countries such as France, Lithuania and Latvia (45%) against an average of 33%. At 35%, the UK, was only marginally ahead of the European average despite a dramatic increase (25%) of women in the higher tax band, compared to a decade ago.
A number of European countries have set targets to bridge these gaps, but, according to other studies few have met those deadlines and there is still a negative perception towards so-called ‘positive discrimination’ - the favouring of women-only short lists for jobs as this throws up its own legal challenges.
This is despite other wage discrimination trends. According to the UK’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) the gender pay gap is widening for the first time since 2008 with men getting an average of £5000 per year more in their salary packets.
So, what was the picture and perception like in the LP sector where it has been traditionally a male-dominated profession?
Present at the ORIS Media Women in LP seminar were women who are now at the top of their professional game and working for some of the biggest names on the High Street.
The themes of the meeting were as far reaching as the backgrounds of the women sitting around the table – many of whom came into LP from police or retail operations, although some had non-retail backgrounds.
Whatever the background though, the group of retailers and leading LP suppliers concluded that there was no real previous occupational differences in terms of them acting as a ‘blocker’ to careers in asset protection.
There was also agreement that women in LP that have children succeed just as well as those that don’t, so long as they have a good support network at home.
But the challenge remains - how do you make LP ‘sexy’ to women early on in their careers? LP tends not to be a chosen career – people generally ‘fall into’ the role.
The seminar threw down the gauntlet: How do we as a profession change that and make it a career choice?
“One of the most dominant themes was around the need for professionalisation of the sector and called for an apprentice-type scheme – for both men and women entering the industry – to learn, develop and progress in LP as a career. In Europe, these qualifications exist for the security industry, but not specifically for loss prevention. But 2014 see’s a shift here with the introduction of the highly successful US-based Loss Prevention Foundation qualifications into the UK, in partnership with ORIS Media.” said Louise Henham, managing editor of Loss Prevention Magazine EU who chaired the meeting.
“It was felt that to be a successful woman in LP, you have to exude confidence, a positive attitude and hard work ethic, as well as remembering to be a female in a man’s world rather than trying to be a ‘man,’ she added.
Consensus reigned over the fact that more women seem to be dominant in the
OMNI/Online LP space where the gender and age mix in this area of loss prevention is different to traditional ‘bricks and mortar.’
Trends in the sector point to a growth in internal promotion with store managers moving from operations into LP roles while evidence suggests that new police leavers tend to follow the investigations path first.
Outside of retail, LP suppliers generally tend to be more male dominated than female with many recruits coming from police backgrounds.
“The key outcome of the session was that there is no glass ceiling in LP these days, and some argue that there never has been,” added Louise Henham.
