Best practices for retail companies to improve gender equity

Retailers, brands and distributors can roll out 15 interventions to hire and retain more women

Improve customer experience (e.g., customers valuing a woman’s perspective) and sales conversion
Increase productivity (e.g., fewer errors in tasks handled by women)
Boost brand value

Retail companies have low gender equity in entry-levels today because of company and ecosystem-level challenges:

Managers are reluctant to hire women in shifts ending late evening (post 7/8 pm) due to safety concerns
Companies do not clearly communicate role expectations (e.g., workdays, timings) during hiring, resulting in early exits
Leadership and managers place limited priority on gender diversity in field roles and certain product segments (e.g., household articles)
Small, standalone outlets sometimes lack adequate washroom access for women

Some women are unwilling to work in field roles and in physically demanding roles which require long standing hours
Some laws make women uncompetitive in labour market (e.g., mandatory pick-up/drop in evening shifts)
Cities/ towns, especially suburbs or during late hours, lack affordable and safe transport facilities
Families do not permit women to continue working post marriage due to household work/ childcare expectations

The organised retail industry has a gender diversity of ~28%, and has high potential for employing more women in three areas:

Shifts ending late evening (i.e., post 7/8 pm) account for ~55% of the outlet-based workforce but have significantly lower gender diversity at ~10%, compared with ~50% in shifts ending before 7/8 pm
Specific product segments such as fuel, household articles (e.g., appliances, furniture), and information and communication technology (e.g., laptops), have lower gender diversity at ~8-13%, compared with ~31% in segments such as departmental stores
Field roles hired by brands and distributors (e.g., salespersons, roaming merchandisers) have significantly lower gender diversity, at under 5%, compared with over 25% in outlet-based roles

Retail companies can follow a 3-phased approach to make their operations more gender-equitable by:

Prioritise and implement (1–6 months): Initiate change by hiring more women in easy-to-hire roles and outlets, establishing foundational infrastructure (e.g., break and rest areas), and sensitising managers to unconscious gender biases
Invest and scale (6–12 months): Improve talent pipeline through incentives for staffing companies and paid women referral programs, and invest in infrastructure (e.g., safety provisions, washroom access) to enhance women’s safety and support
Innovate and lead (12–24 months): Scale women-friendly practices through flexible work options and safer zones for field roles, and embed accountability via diversity KPIs and business benefits dissemination

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