Follow us

Menu
PARTNER WITH USFREE NEWSLETTER
VISIT TheIndustry.beauty

Has the British retail sector reached gender equality in boardrooms?

Chloe Burney
24 June 2025

The British retail sector has made significant strides toward gender equality in boardrooms over the past five years, according to the latest diversity report from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and The MBS Group.

Women’s representation on retail boards has nearly reached parity, increasing from just 32% five years ago to 47% in 2025.

This progress is credited in part to retailers’ focused efforts on leadership development, including creating clear talent pipelines, appointing diversity and inclusion (D&I) leaders, supporting menopause initiatives, and fostering employee-led programmes.

However, the report also highlights ongoing challenges. Representation of leaders with disabilities and from lower socioeconomic backgrounds has seen only slow improvement. Ethnic diversity among senior retail leaders has declined, dropping from 12% last year to 8% this year, despite overall workforce diversity increasing.

The full report draws on data from 200 of the UK’s leading retail businesses, focusing on their highest leadership levels and D&I strategies. It includes insights from the Retail Trust’s Employee Inclusion Index, reflecting diverse employee experiences across the sector.

Key statistics from the 2025 report include:

  • 90% of retailers have a coordinated D&I strategy in place, slightly down from 98% in 2024
  • 75% of retailers have at least one senior leader from a lower socioeconomic background (up from 70%)
  • 58% of businesses can identify at least one senior LGBTQ+ leader (down from 67%)
  • 15% of businesses have at least one disabled leader (up from 11%)

Since launching the BRC’s D&I Charter in 2021, nearly 90 retailers have pledged to improve inclusion by focusing on CEO oversight, recruitment, progression, reporting, inclusivity, and responsibility. The Charter supports businesses in addressing cultural and bias challenges and embedding lasting diversity practices.

Helen Dickinson OBE, Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium, said: "Retailers should celebrate the enormous efforts made to ensure more women have a seat at the executive table. More than half of retail customer bases are women, so having their perspective is essential to success.

"If this year’s results have shown us anything, it is that we cannot rest on our laurels as progress can quickly fade... All employees must feel a sense of belonging to be productive and power a business to a successful future. The work on achieving true diversity and inclusion must not stop until we get where the industry needs to be."

Elliott Goldstein, Managing Partner at The MBS Group, added: "For the fifth year, MBS is proud to have partnered with the BRC to continue to move the dial on diversity and inclusion in the retail industry.

"To ensure lasting change, retailers must continue to put their heads above the parapet to drive forward initiatives and commit to building work environments that are truly inclusive – particularly with the backdrop of today’s geopolitical environment."

 

 

To learn more about DE&I read TheIndustry.fashion's cheat sheet and key take aways from the Fashion Minority Report's inaugural summit here.

Image Credit: PA Media


Free NewsletterVISIT TheIndustry.beauty
cross