Women in the retail workforce: what stores can do to hire, keep and promote more women

Walk into a beauty store, a saree showroom or a large supermarket in any Indian city and you’ll see many women on the floor. Walk into the store manager’s cabin and the picture often changes. Women are a large part of retail’s frontline, but far fewer reach supervisory and management roles, and many leave within a year or two.

That’s a loss for employers. More Indian women are entering paid work than a few years ago. According to the government’s Periodic Labour Force Survey, the labour force participation rate of women aged 15 and above rose from 23.3% in 2017–18 to 41.7% in 2023–24. The rise was strongest in rural areas, at 46.5%, while urban participation was around 26%. There is a large and growing pool of women looking for work, and retail, with its many locations, entry-level roles and customer-facing work, is well placed to employ them.

This guide is for store owners, HR teams and managers who want to hire, keep and promote more women. It focuses on practical changes, and on the legal basics every employer should know.

Why it matters for your business

• Your customers. Women make or influence a large share of household buying decisions, from groceries to jewellery to electronics. Many customers are more comfortable being served by women in some categories, such as beauty, lingerie and ethnic wear.
• A bigger talent pool. When stores make it possible for women to work, including women returning after a career break, they have more candidates to choose from.
• Retention. Women who find a safe, respectful workplace often stay longer, reducing the high cost of retail attrition. See why retail staff leave.
• Better teams. Mixed teams bring a wider range of perspectives on customers, displays and service.

The barriers women face in store jobs

When women leave retail jobs, or never apply, the reasons are usually practical, not about ability or interest. Understanding them is the first step to fixing them.

None of these are unique to retail, but retail’s long hours, late closings and public-facing work make some of them sharper.

Safe shifts and transport

Late closing times are one of the biggest reasons women turn down or leave retail jobs. The rules on women working at night vary by state. Several states, including Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Odisha, Karnataka and Maharashtra, allow women to work night shifts in shops and establishments with safeguards and consent. Delhi’s 2026 amendment to its Shops and Establishments Act allows night work for women only with written consent and safeguards such as CCTV, safe transport and at least two women on the shift. Always check your own state’s current rules.

Researchers have pointed out that rules meant to protect women can also become barriers if employers simply avoid hiring women for late shifts. The better approach is to make late shifts genuinely safe:

Practical steps

• Ask about commute and transport at hiring, without assumptions
• Offer earlier shifts as an option, assigned fairly, not as a penalty
• Arrange safe drop-offs or cabs for late shifts, with trip tracking
• Never schedule a woman to close alone; at least two women together where rules require it
• CCTV at the entrance and in common areas
• Share the manager’s and a security contact number for emergencies

Avoid

• Refusing to hire women “because of late shifts”
• Always giving women morning shifts, which limits their incentives and growth
• Asking for consent informally, or under pressure
• Leaving one woman to close with male colleagues she doesn’t know well
• Assuming family will “manage” transport
• Treating safety as the employee’s problem

For more on scheduling fairly, see rostering retail staff around footfall. Opening and closing with at least two people is good practice for everyone, as our guide to store safety basics explains.

Preventing and handling harassment

Harassment, from customers, colleagues or supervisors, is one of the most damaging reasons women leave retail jobs, and one of the least reported. India’s Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, often called the POSH Act, requires employers with ten or more employees to set up an Internal Committee to handle complaints, and to make sure employees know how to use it.

Beyond the legal minimum, store teams need practical steps:

• Make the policy visible. Display who the Internal Committee members are and how to contact them, in the staff area, in simple language.
• Train everyone, including supervisors and male colleagues, on what harassment is and what to do.
• Back staff against customers. Make it clear that staff can step away from an abusive customer and call a supervisor, and that the store will support them.
• Act quickly and fairly on complaints, protect confidentiality, and make sure there is no retaliation.
• Watch for warning signs: a woman who suddenly asks to avoid certain shifts or colleagues may be trying to tell you something.

Facilities that make a difference

Small investments in facilities often decide whether women stay:

• A clean, separate, lockable washroom for women staff, with sanitary disposal.
• A safe place to change into uniform and store belongings.
• Somewhere to sit during breaks, away from the shop floor.
• Seating at counters or in sections where the job allows it, especially for pregnant employees.
• Uniforms in a range of sizes and styles that women are comfortable in, including options for different cultural preferences.

Maternity and returning to work

Maternity benefits are set by law, and employers must follow them. In covered establishments, eligible women are entitled to paid maternity leave, which for the first two children is up to 26 weeks under India’s maternity law, and larger establishments must provide crèche facilities. Employees covered by ESI receive maternity benefit through the ESI scheme. Check the exact entitlements that apply to your business under current law.

Beyond the law, what helps most is certainty and flexibility. Tell women clearly what they’re entitled to and that their job will be there. On return, offer a gradual restart, a predictable shift pattern for a few months, and a short refresher on anything that changed. Many women who leave retail after having children would have stayed with a bit of flexibility.

Women returning after a longer break are a valuable and often overlooked pool of candidates. Many have customer-facing experience and strong reliability. A short refresher course and a structured first month can help them restart with confidence. Our guide to hiring retail staff who stay covers how to reach different candidate pools.

Building a path to leadership

Hiring women for the shop floor is the first step. Making sure they can grow is what changes a company. A few practices help:

From the floor to the manager’s cabin

1. Notice talent earlyIdentify strong performers in their first year, and tell them you see their potential.
2. Offer stretch tasksTraining new joiners, running a section, handling the cash tally, leading the morning huddle.
3. Train for the next roleGive access to learning on store numbers, rostering, coaching and stock.
4. Make promotions transparentClear criteria for each step, so promotions don’t depend on who the manager is closest to.
5. Match with mentorsPair rising women with experienced managers, including women managers where possible.

Women supervisors and managers make a visible difference to the women who work for them: they show what’s possible. Our store manager career path lays out the skills needed at each step.

Measure what’s happening

You can’t improve what you don’t track. A few simple numbers, reviewed every quarter, show where to focus:

• Share of women among applicants, new hires and current staff.
• 90-day and one-year retention for women versus men.
• Share of women among supervisors and store managers.
• Reasons women give for leaving, from honest exit conversations.
• Number of harassment complaints, and how quickly they were resolved.

If women join but leave quickly, look at shifts, safety and supervisors. If they stay but don’t get promoted, look at how promotions are decided.

A checklist for store teams

• Night-shift rules for your state checked; written consent and safeguards in place.
• Safe transport arranged for late shifts.
• Internal Committee set up, displayed and understood by staff.
• Clean, separate washroom and a safe place to change and rest.
• Maternity entitlements explained clearly; flexible return offered.
• Shifts, incentives and promotions assigned fairly.
• Women supported to train for supervisory roles.
• Key numbers reviewed every quarter.

Making retail work better for women isn’t charity. It’s how stores get a bigger, more stable, more capable team. And for millions of women entering work for the first time or returning after a break, a store job can be the start of a real career.