Congrats to 2024’s Top Women in Grocery

OPINION: EDITOR'S NOTE

June is a special month here at Progressive Grocer.

It’s that time of year when we honor and celebrate women’s achievements in the grocery industry. Our special June issue shines a bright light on the outstanding women who are blazing trails in their organizations and setting the standards for others to follow. 

And celebrating these women for their successes has never been more important, as women continue to lose ground when it comes to career advancement in grocery. Specifically, women make up more than two-thirds of the workforce in the grocery (and overall retail) industry, but lag behind when it comes to senior management roles.

It’s even worse in the C-suite. According to an analysis from Korn Ferry published in Forbes, of the 47 newly appointed retail CEOs last year, only five were female and 12 outgoing women CEOs were replaced by men. Overall, some 90% of new retail CEOs were men, and only 10% were women. 

Factors Affecting Female Career Advancement

Over the past decade, many food retail companies have made high-profile pledges to close the gender promotion (and pay) gap, but not enough companies are doing what it takes to help women up the ladder. Deloitte’s “Women @ Work” report, published in April, examines some of the critical workplace and societal factors that are profoundly affecting women’s chances of advancement in their careers. 

Half of women say that their stress levels are higher than they were a year ago, and a similar number say that they’re concerned or very concerned about their mental health. Mental health is a top three concern for women globally (48%), falling behind their financial security (51%) and rights (50%).

Women are (still) feeling the weight of misbalanced caregiving and domestic responsibilities. Notably, 50% of women who live with a partner and have children say that they take the most responsibility for child care — up from 46% in 2023 — with only 12% saying that this falls to their partner. 

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Also, nearly half of women say that they’re worried about their safety when they’re at work: One in 10 of these women have been harassed while commuting or traveling for work, and 16% have dealt with customers or clients that have harassed them or behaved in a way that has made them feel uncomfortable. 

Lack of flexible working hours is among the top reasons that women have changed jobs over the past year (15%), with the same number also citing poor work/life balance. 

Culture Is Key

Perhaps most interesting, the survey found that one-quarter of women don’t want to progress into senior leadership positions in their organizations, with the top reason being that they’re put off by the company culture. 

Women in companies with great cultures report higher levels of loyalty toward their employer and productivity, feel safer, are more comfortable talking about their mental health at work, and are more certain that they can work flexibly without damaging their careers.

So, although there are tons of talented Top Women in Grocery out there, not enough of them are making it to the top of their organizations. Companies that want to move from pledges to action on advancing women in the workplace should focus on mental health training, improved safety on the job, flexible scheduling, and creating an inclusive company culture where work/life balance is valued and respected, and where women feel supported in their career progression. 

We at Progressive Grocer will spotlight many of these topics at our Grocery Impact event slated for Nov. 6-8 in Orlando, Fla. Join us!