Opinion: Retail and social media, an (un)equal playing field, Sophie Williams, Premier Broadway Edinburgh

Having a hand in both local retailing and in creating content for social media over the last four years, I have really been exposed to the depths and biases involved in both industries. Retailing has a long standing, traditional, usually family-inherited, “gender conforming” career path that is extremely set in its ways. Whereas social media content creator is a job title at which some may laugh and say “that isn’t even a real job”. There are many who still deem online content as frivolous or unnecessary. However, one path seems more obvious to young people, and I don’t think it is hard to see why.

Now both industries have their flaws, without a doubt, however when I am making videos for our shop’s social media accounts, I get to be entirely creative and free to express myself how I like as there are no rules. I also think it is important to note that regardless of your gender, you can be extremely successful online.

Content creation has actually become quite a release for me and brings me pride as this is an area in which I have grown to be known and more importantly, respected across our convenience industry. Now I ask the question: Why can I not be shown the same respect within my retailing career?

If you would like to find out more about Women in Convenience and how you can get involved, please email marketing@newtrade.co.uk or contact Kate Daw on 07886 784465

Being a young woman in this sector comes with its challenges. I don’t think I really understood how far we still have to go as an industry until I was at an event near the end of 2023. An extremely misogynistic comment about women securing jobs because of their “long legs and high heels” was made in my presence by a person of prominence in the industry, that I was shocked right back down to earth.

As we kick off this new year, I want to encourage our whole industry to keep giving women and young people the platform and support they need to succeed. To my fellow young retailers: keep putting yourself out there both in person and online so that we can show everyone that the industry is safe in our hands. Let’s show that we can have the right mindset in making some real and important – and long overdue – change.

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