Women with a passion for building a successful career are choosing retail with two out of three women crediting the sector for providing a worthwhile career path.
Research released by the Australian National Retailers Association’s (ANRA) this week also shows two out of five women saying the sector supported their lifestyle needs.
“Maternity leave and flexible working hours are important factors women take into account when mapping a career path and the retail sector provides diverse solutions to support this,” ANRA CEO Margy Osmond said.
“The results signal a promising future for retail with 22% of women who believe the retail sector presents a viable career option - telling us they believe the sector provides opportunities to support their entrepreneurial ideas.”
“It’s clear people are passionate about their work in the retail sector, 22% of people with retail sector experience have worked in the retail sector for more than 10 years and 24% have worked in the sector between three and five years.”
The research coincides with the launch of ANRA’s Women in Retail initiative, “As the largest private sector employer of women in Australia the initiative will recognise the vital contribution women make to the industry and will look at policies to adapt our working practices accordingly.
“Approximately 690,000 women work in the retail sector - representing around 13% of the total Australian female workforce - as such the importance of this sector to the broader economy cannot be underestimated.”
“Compared to key overseas environments, Australia and New Zealand at 57% each have the highest percentage of women employed in the retail sector – the gender split is closer to 50/50 in the UK, US and Canada,” said Ms Osmond.
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