Gender Segregation in the Retail Industry

Abstract The retail industry is an important case for the study of gender segregation for several reasons. First, until the recent recession, retailing was a modern, dynamic industry, a significant contributor to the ever growing service sector. This was manifested in the development of out-of-town hypermarkets and remodelled shopping precincts in city centres. Such centres have become the symbols of the post-modern age, the focus of a major leisure activity as well as a source of employment. Second, the retail industry is a significant employer of women and has a predominantly female work-force. In 1980, 9 per cent of working women were employed in retailing (Martin and Roberts 1984: 23) and almost two-thirds of the total retail work-force were women, many of them part-timers (NIESR 1986).