Female CEOs lose ground in retail sector’s top echelons

NEW YORK: At the start of this year, a slew of major retailers was searching for the right person to fill their chief executive roles. Most of those companies have now found that person — and in almost every case it was a man.

In recent months, major retailers such as Gap, Stitch Fix, Victoria’s Secret, Kohl’s, the Vitamin Shoppe and the RealReal have appointed men to CEO positions previously held by women. Others such as Macy’s, VF Corp and Italian denim brand Diesel replaced men with men at the top.

In general, it is rare for a female CEO to be succeeded by another woman regardless of the industry, according to an analysis by Catalyst.


“It reminds me of the Barbie movie,” said Kimberly Lee Minor, who is the CEO of the consulting firm Bumbershoot. “We live in this society where women control the majority of consumer spending. They make the decisions and yet we still haven’t moved forward, and we have to go into this cycle.”

While the number of female CEOs had been trending upward in recent years, nearly 90% of Fortune 500 companies are run by men. Of the 86 retail companies in the Fortune 1000, 13 had a woman as CEO as of July 2023, down slightly from the year before, according to the executive recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles. Retail executives have long been quick to note that purchases are largely driven by women, who make most of the spending decisions for their households. The majority of the industry’s entry-level workforce is also female. Seventy-two percent of cashiers are women, and about half of retail salespersons are women, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

One of the reasons many companies are turning to men may be explained by the economic tension retailers are feeling in 2023. In times of uncertainty, companies become more risk averse and seek executives who have financial expertise and proven track records at previous companies, according to academics and people who work at executive search firms. That tends to perpetuate previous hiring decisions and lead to companies seeking those with experience leading a turnaround.

While the US economy has avoided a recession that many feared could come in the first half of 2023, there are still a lot of difficulties for retailers to navigate. Companies are adjusting to a base of consumers who are not readily spending as they were in the early stages of the pandemic, when people collectively had more savings. Clothing retailers and their shareholders are feeling the squeeze as shoppers respond to stubborn inflation by pulling back on purchases of discretionary items.

Despite progress made during the pandemic, the industry is still contending with the reality of ecommerce, the changing role of stores and the challenges and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence. “Gender representation and just overall diversity representation is here to stay, certainly at any consumer company and definitely at any retailer,” said Catherine Lepard, who leads executive searches for retail firms at Heidrick & Struggles.

The more hiring of men to CEO roles could be seen as the “savior effect,” said Christy Glass, a professor of sociology at Utah State University, who is working on a study about executive dismissals.