Discrimination And Affirmative Action Essay Example

Corporate culture has evolved over the years, many companies in the past discriminated women in managerial positions. Although many strides have been taken to improve on this many companies still suffer from this. One company that will be my main focus is Wal-Mart’s who have been taken to court because of this type of discrimination. In Wal-Mart women face many challenges, especially when been promoted into the managerial positions in the company. In Wal-Mart it is said that men are paid better than women. When looked into it was discovered that men’s wages were much better even though they were employed at the same time. When asked during the court appeal a professor in sociology William bielby blamed the work policies used in Wal-Mart.
During the classation suit, in the discovery process Wal-Mart was forced to hand over reams of data on its US workforce. Experts were to examine the difference between the company’s promotion and compensation of men and women. In 2001 one of the reports found about 65 percent of Wal-Mart’s hourly workers were women, while only 33 percent of its managers were notwithstanding that the company female associates and stayed longer and had better performance evaluations than their male counterparts. Women took longer to reach management positions and were not paid as well as men even when they held the same positions.
Wal-Mart has also been faulted to sexually harass women in the organization. This hinders most of the women who would like to be part of the managerial team to be demoralized. This leads to a decrease in the number of applicants in this positions.The use of sex as a discriminatory way not only demoralizes but it shows that women are not respected in this organization. In an interview with one of the managers, a woman, stated that they used to have meetings in hooters where the men would divert their attention to the waitress instead of sales. In this instant been the only woman manger did not favor her as she felt marginalized by her team in a ratio of 1:10. The fact that they held their meetings in strip clubs and hooters showed how Wal-Mart was insensitive towards the women.
Wal-Mart has long said it promotes women ‘at rates consistent with the qualified and interested pool of candidates’. Yet according an economist Mark bendick, the company’s proportion of female managers’ lags far behind almost all its competitors. Using data filed with the equal employment opportunity commission, Bendick found that on average, at large retailers such as target, Kmart and JC Penney, women hold 57 percent of management positions compared to Wal-Mart’s 35 percent. In fact, Wal-Mart lagged so far behind its competitors that the company claimed a smaller proportion of female managers in 1999 than its industry peers had in 1975.
Discrimination of women in this company has hindered the success of this company and by these profits in Wal-Mart reduced. Working conditions and policies on both appraisals and promotions should be revised to favor those with more experience. The human resources department should reconsider the compensation for both men and women to be of equal standing. In a statement from one of the women managers who describes two male manager who were under her paid over $15,000. Even though she had more experience than them discriminating on payment basis has also been a barrier for many women seeking to be promoted.
Women have been well over the years been discriminated upon, but with the ruling to be made by the supreme court over such allegations. Discrimination against women in work places will reduce and help them to overcome the barriers and excel in their work. We may not expect all aspects of discriminations to change but with such strides it will help managers to make conclusive work policies. This will help break the glass ceiling making it easier for women working to expect appraisals in form of promotions.