Retailers step up hiring of women from shop floors to leadership roles

India’s retail sector is sharpening its focus on woman workforce as a key talent pool, with retailers across the sector planning to step up female hiring over the next few years.

- ‘ANEEKA CHATTERJEE

From shop floors to mid-management and leadership pipelines, retailers say women’s participation is no longer viewed as a diversity add-on but a business necessity. It is shaping customer experience, workforce stability and long-term growth.

Retailers said as they scaled their physical presence, women were expected to play a bigger role not only in sales and visual merchandising, but also in store operations, people management and brand-building functions. Yet women’s participation in retail remains uneven, with sharp disparities across categories, roles and regions, reflecting structural barriers.

Staffing firm Team Lease Services said women's participation varies dramatically, depending on the product being sold, even when jobs are similar in skill and pay. “In lifestyle, fashion, beauty and cosmetics retail, women account for nearly two-thirds of the frontline workforce,” said Balasubramanian A, senior vice-president at Team Lease Services.

He added, “But in electronics and consumer durables, women make up barely 5-7 per cent, despite the work cards, compensation and store environments being very similar.”

The gender gap is widest in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) feet-on-street sales, where travel, tough targets, low pay and poor facilities keep women below 5 per cent.