Women have long been underrepresented in top-level executive positions, executive C-suites and boardrooms in ecommerce and retail.

In fact, Digital Commerce 360 took a look at the CEO, president and founder roles for the Top 100 retailers we track, in addition to these retailers’ ecommerce executive roles. 87% of CEO, president and founder roles are held by males in the industry compared with 13% of females. The gender disparity is not quite as wide among ecommerce executives, as 40% are female and 60% male.

However, the disparity at the top persists even though women are the primary buyers in several important retail categories, such as fashion, jewelry and cosmetics. For example, Digital Commerce 360 tracks 252 apparel and accessories retailers, 54 cosmetics retailers and 41 jewelry retailers in the Top 1000, which represent 34.6% of retailers in the Top 1000.