Gender Discrimination at Wal-Mart Essay

Over the past few decades, great strides have been made by women in the workplace. This increased number in women in the workplace does not mean equality however. Even with equal qualifications and achievements, women are still not given all the opportunities that men have. The chapter in the textbook, “Gender at Work”, shows us more of these inequalities in the workplace. Such inequalities cause gender segregation of jobs and can be linked with the pay inequality in the labor force. Even in jobs that are predominantly filled by women, men earn more than women. Women are often stereotyped as being family focused and not as able to travel, therefore they tend to get passed up for promotions (Garson p.353). This invisible barrier that keeps women from moving up the executive ladder is referred to as the “glass ceiling” (Baxter and Wright p. 346). Women also tend to do more domestic work, or unpaid labor and caregiving. This extra unpaid work is referred to as “the third shift” and is largely rested on the shoulders of women (Gersel p. 352). Consequently, this seems to be one of the biggest things holding women back from taking on jobs that are normally considered male

The women in this case felt discomfort when they felt mistreated from their male managers in the form of sexism along with unfair pay and lack of promotions. In this case, a woman was told to doll up and to wear makeup in order to advance which is a perfect example of one’s boundaries being pushed while making them feel uncomfortable. The next conflict event was annoyance. According to the Huffington Post article regarding the case, there was a significant difference between the level of experience between male and female workers along with their opportunity for promotions. The male workers with less experience got promotions compared to the female workers with years of experience and positive performance reviews. Male workers were also paid more compared to their female coworkers. Being passed over for jobs was evident to the women identified in this case which lead to the awareness of gender discrimination, the next conflict event, in a diverse workplace with men and women with their only similarity being that they are Wal-Mart employees. The awareness of gender discrimination faced by thousands of female employees led to conflict, the last conflict event where a class-action lawsuit was filed against Wal-Mart despite them saying that they were a diversity encouraging, fair treatment, and nondiscriminatory company (Shapiro,

A majority of women across the world are highly accountable for home duties, and child rearing, while men on the other hand are bound for working in higher paid salary jobs. As of a result of this, inequality amongst genders has turned into a controversy in the workplace. And due to this gender inequality, women have been led to poorly paid gender typed positions. The gender pay gap negatively impacts individuals and some elements that play a major role in this issue are: work experience, independent skills, specific length of time at a company, and the level of education the person has obtained. However, the

There is currently a group of women trying to bring a class action lawsuit against Wal-Mart for gender discrimination. The case was originally filed in 2001 by six women who claimed that Wal-Mart discriminated against them by paying men more money and promoting them faster inside the company. It has turned into a group that could be as many as 1.5 million current and former Wal-Mart employees, who’s jobs ranged from greeter to manager.

This case known as "Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes et al." in which current or former employees were seeking injunctive and declaratory relief, punitive damages and backpay for alleged gender discrimination based on disproportionate favoritism toward men over pay and promotions by local managers. Court have decided that claimants were not able to prove that they were discriminated as a class and decided that Walmart had a right to argue each case in court based on claim. (WAL-MART STORES, INC. v. DUKES ET AL.,

Bush administration. The wrangle over wages is playing out not just in Washington but in cities and towns across America. In the biggest sex-discrimination lawsuit in U.S. history, a group of female Wal-Mart employees has charged the retail giant with bias in pay and promotions. The case could affect perhaps 1.6 million women employees of Wal-Mart and result in billions of dollars in back pay and damages.The enormously complex gender-pay debate encompasses economics, demographics, law, social justice, culture, history and sometimes raw emotion. Few dispute that a wage gap exists between men and women. In 2006 full-time female workers earned 81 percent of men 's weekly earnings, according to the latest U.S. Labor Department data, with the wage gap broader for older workers and narrower for younger ones. Separate U.S. Census Bureau data put the gap at about 77 percent of men 's median full-time, year-round earnings. The fundamental issues are why the gap exists, how much of it stems from discrimination and what should be done about it.Some contend the disparity can largely be explained by occupational differences between women and men, variations in work experience, number of hours worked each year and other such things.June O 'Neill, an economics professor at the City University of New York 's Baruch College and

Inequality.org reports on the controversy of Wal-Mart in two related articles, “The Wal-Martization of Everywhere” and “Low Road/High Road.” The first article claims that although “Wal-Mart is the world’s biggest private company, with $245 billion in annual revenues,” (Hellerman, 2004) there are reasons to be concerned with the success of Wal-Mart. One of the major claims related to class inequality in this article states that a typical employee earns $13,860 annually, which isn’t enough for a family of three to rise above the poverty line. The majority of the article focuses on some of the claims supporting Wal-Mart, more particularly an economists claim that “Wal-Mart is the greatest thing that ever happened to low-income Americans,” (Hellerman, 2004) allowing them to stress their income and buy things

Created and perpetuated in part by patriarchal religions and capitalism, the American workplace exemplifies sexism in modern society, contributing to the continuation of women being viewed as subordinate to men (Albee and Perry 145). In 2013, American women earned 82 cents to every dollar that men earned, a discrepancy known as the gender wage gap, and that gap widens for working mothers in the United States. Though mothers comprise a larger percentage of the workforce than do fathers, they loose $141 each week compared to fathers’ average earnings, increasing the yearly wage gap from 12 percent on average to 25 percent for working mothers (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). A study conducted by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research used data spanning the 15 years between 1983 and 1998 to conclude that women earned 38 cents to every dollar earned by a man, demonstrating the costs over time of the unequal distribution of family responsibilities (English and Hegewisch 1). On average, women earned $237,592 compared to the men’s average of $722,693 over the 15-year period (2). Despite evidence that approximately half of the gender wage gap can be attributed to normal economic wage fluctuations, an argument often used by those who claim the gap does not exist, sexism has been shown to contribute to the other half (TD Economics 1).

Women in the workforce still face issues regarding gender wage gap (Equal Pay Day: Are Women Surging or Stalling?, 2018). Even though there has been progress surrounding awareness of these issues, the wage gap between women and men is still very prevalent. Here in the United States, we have enacted a law called the Equal Pay Act that requires employers to pay man and women same wage for the same work (CARD, CARDOSO & KLINE, 2016). Beyond the Equal Pay Act, employers are prohibited from practicing discrimination on the basis of gender. If an organization overall pay their employees higher salaries relative to other organization then salaries for women tend to be more equitable. Organizational practices are also changing. Some organizations

Women in the workforce encounter more challenges and discrimination in wages and positions than men. At another Walmart in Tennessee employee Bobbi Milner was mistakenly given the paycheck of her fellow assistant manager. She noticed that he was making “thousands of dollars more than she” although he had significantly less experience. These workers were among the 1.5 million female workers in 2011 who banded together in the largest sex discrimination lawsuit suing Walmart for allegedly discriminating against its female employees in wages and position opportunities. Although the female employees received on average $1,100 less per year than their male counterparts and were often

Women nationwide have joined a class action lawsuit against Wal-Mart. The women are suing based on gender bias. They claim men are promoted faster and receive higher pay. This is especially noticed in the management ranks. The lawsuit could have been avoided with better training within the company. If the company trained managers in different or better ways of evaluation, the situation would have been avoided. The other training managers need is that is documentation. Everything that happens to an employee from the date of hire to the end

You have probably heard that men get paid more than women over their lifetimes, what does that mean? Are women paid less because they choose lower paying jobs? Is it because women have more caregiving responsibilities? And what does a person's gender have to do with how much they are paid? Recent studies have shown that women actually do get paid less than men, According to Jonathan Webb, A well respected writer for the website, Forbes, stated that, “There are two elements holding down women’s salaries. Firstly, there is the glass ceiling effect. This is where women are unable to break through to senior positions. The second more jarring aspect is direct on-the-job discrimination. That is, paying women less than men for the same work but this

Throughout history, women have typically been undermined and denied the same equal rights as men. From the Equal Pay Act to the Paycheck Fairness Act, women have fought an uphill battle for their gender equality. Women earn less than men in almost every job occupation regardless of their race, age, ethnicity, or academic credibility. Most often, the emphasis that women place on family—leading to breaks in employment and a desire for more flexible working hours—negatively impacts their career trajectory, and is correlated with issue of the nationwide wage gap.

While working at Wal-Mart for six years, Betty Dukes realized that she was never presented with the opportunities that other male employees did. In 2001, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, had a lawsuit filed against them by 1.5 million female employees for sex discrimination. All of these employees claimed that Wal-Mart was discriminating through the use of salary and promotion which in result was violating Title VII and the Civil Rights Acts of 1964.

Women are one of the most groups being discriminated against today. They try very hard to fit in and be successful in their careers. Discrimination against women is found in many workplaces. Some managers try to fix this problem, but others just ignore it. Companies that pretend that gender discrimination doesn’t exist are usually the ones that get sued for it more often. Other companies try to avoid law suits by dealing with gender discrimination and resolving conflicts before it gets to the law suits.