that nearly one-in-five retail workers have personally experienced sexual harassment in the workplace in the past five years. Sexually suggestive comments, intrusive and personal questions, staring, and unwanted physical contact were  some of the more common behaviours encountered.  Women were also more likely to have faced these issues than men, according to the report, with the most likely culprit being someone more senior within their organisation, followed by a customer.  “Our research reveals that sexual harassment is a very common experience within retail workplaces,” Author and director of the Gender Equality in Working Life Research Initiative Professor Rae Cooper AO told Inside Retail.  “It’s a very harmful experience, and it is one that staff tell us makes them want to move to different types of work where they are better respected and valued.” The research’s findings echo those found by a report released by The Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) in 2020, which focused on female staff experiences working at JB Hi-Fi. The report detailed claims of sexual harassment in the workplace, with JB Hi-Fi making efforts to crack down on harassment within its business following its release.  Customers were found to be the second most likely harasser – an issue exacerbated by the industry’s maxim that ‘the customer is always right’, which has led to a power imbalance between staff and customers.  “It’s really dangerous for staff to think they can’t reject abuse of harassing behaviour from customers because they are frightened of negative reactions from their managers,” Cooper said.  The issue of gender segregation is also widely present within the industry, with women overrepresented in frontline service roles, while men are typically picked for finance or operational positions. .  According to Cooper, women often ‘get stuck’ in one area of the business and find it difficult to enter more senior and strategic opportunities, due to structural disadvantage.  As a result many women leave the industry: an issue that could go a long way in explaining why so few women end up in management, board and leadership roles.  “The retail industry leadership does seem to be out of sync with its highly feminised workforce,” Cooper said.  Boosting women at the top In an effort to boost female leadership and diversity within the retail industry, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) announced its sophomore Women in Leadership scholarship. In partnership with Chief Executive Women, the ARA seeks to boost female leadership within the industry by delivering targeted support. Last year’s winner, Wesfarmers’ OneDigital GM of finance Virginia Leaf, hasn’t yet been able to utilise her prize – the opportunity to study at Harvard Business School – following the birth of her second child.  ARA chief executive Paul Zahra told Inside Retail that Leaf would have the opportunity to utilise the scholarship when she was able to, and said that being flexible with the way the scholarship is utilised is an important factor in delivering an opportunity  that speaks specifically to women.  “There’s no doubt that as women progress through our industry they have many obstacles – one of them is the potential for childbirth – which can make it more difficult to balance the requirements of family and career.That’s one of the reasons there are a shortage of female directors [in retail],” Zahra explained.  “We have to improve the pipeline at the CEO level.” Zahra pointed to Coles’ recent appointment of Leah Wickert as its new CEO, following the retirement of Steven Cain, as a step forward – but he added that there is still much work to be done.  The ARA has taken steps to spotlight the issue, having released a Gender Equality Position Statement which clearly  outlines ways that retailers can better support their female workforce. According to Zahra, the organisation  has over 20 major companies already signed up, and is on the hunt for more.  “We’re trying to address that imbalance, and promote gender equality across the retail sector to improve choice, career progression and financial security for women,” Zahra said.  What to do? The ARA has laid out nine major steps for retailers to take in order to improve working outcomes for women in retail. But Cooper told Inside Retail that in order to better understand and support their staff, retailers should start by actively engaging with them. “Retailers need to actively ask their staff about their experiences, develop policies which are understood by all staff, make policies available to everyone in the workplace and, most importantly, be seen by staff to act on those policies,” Cooper said.  “It is not enough to put the words on paper – action is what staff really notice.”