Retail boardrooms close to gender parity but D&I efforts retreat, shows BRC report

Gender equality in retail boardrooms has significantly increased over the past five years, with women now making up almost half of executive teams, according to the latest report from the British Retail Consortium – but D&I overall is falling down the list of priorities for the sector.

While female leaders made up less than a third (32%) of boardrooms five years ago, that number has now almost reached parity, at 47.4% in this year’s report.

This figure is also up from 42.3% the year before. At the executive committee level, female representation also increased from 40.9% to 43.7% compared with 2024. But for direct reports, those figures dropped approximately 5% to 50.5% versus the year prior.

“Retailers should celebrate the enormous efforts made to ensure more women have a seat at the executive table,” said BRC CEO Helen Dickinson. “More than half of retail customer bases are women, so having their perspective is essential to success.

D&I deprioritisation

“If this year’s results have shown us anything, it is that we cannot rest on our laurels, as progress can quickly fade,” Dickinson added.

She noted that progress in other key areas has been slow – ethnic representation at boardroom in particular has backtracked after notable progress last year, with the sector nearly back to where it was in 2021 at only 8% of representation.

Leadership representation for people with a disability and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds also progressed slowly.

Notably, around 90% of retailers had a co-ordinated D&I strategy in place this year – down from 98% in 2024, as diversity and inclusion efforts are reportedly being deprioritised across several industries.

Read more: Is diversity, equity & inclusion dead in UK food & drink?

Additionally, the report’s ‘Employee Inclusion Index’ revealed that employee feelings of belonging and inclusion are generally low, especially for those who selected “prefer not to say” under gender, those with a disability, and those identifying as Black/African/Caribbean.

“There is little point in having more diverse leadership if this does not translate into the lived experience of people within a business”, Dickinson said.

“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.”

Tracking progress

The BRC noted that the impact of a difficult economic backdrop and cost pressures on retailers, coupled with the increasingly challenging external conversation around D&I, was “clear in the report’s findings”, which were developed in partnership with the MBS Group.

But research also found a “determination” from many retailers to “not allow these factors to interfere with their mission in creating a truly equitable, productive workplace”.

The report highlighted how many retailers have focused on training the next generation by creating a “clear pipeline of future leaders within their businesses”, and identified how crucial CEO accountability and buy-in is for moving inclusion forward, especially CEO engagement with the wider workforce.

Other initiatives include appointment of D&I leaders, support for those going through menopause, mentoring, and employee-led initiatives.

Alongside the first edition of the ‘Tracking progress on diversity and inclusion in UK retail’ report in 2021, the BRC launched its D&I Charter.

Nearly 90 retailers are now signatories and have pledged to improve D&I by focusing on six areas – CEO oversight, recruitment, progression, reporting, inclusivity and responsibility – to help embed greater D&I into their business.

Elliott Goldstein, managing partner at The MBS Group, said: “Although we have seen real progress since our research began in 2021, progress in moving the dial on ethnic diversity in leadership has been less encouraging.

“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.”