Gender-Based Criticism
Wal-Mart is the major retail corporation situated in United States and it has been positioned as the best on the Fortune 500 Index. The company is in such a strong position in the retail business that is able to dictate its terms to the suppliers. Although in the course of the success it has attained it has also faced a lot of criticism from the public regarding its policies and procedures.
2) Criticisms:
- Gender-Based Criticism
Wal-Mart has been taken to court due to the gender bias charge against Wal-Mart Stores on 19th June 2001. It has been accused that female recruits of Wal-Mart are neglected when it comes to advancement opportunities and training occasions, they are paid less than the male staff for the same or similar job, and they are made to work in less wage departments. The women working at Wal-Mart are deprived of reaching top management promotions and are not considered suitable candidates for being promoted to top executive positions. It has been said for Wal-Mart by Judge Martin Jenkins that “the higher one looks in the organization, the lower the percentage of women. ” Women make up more than 70% of Wal-Mart’s hourly workforce but less than one-third of its store management. (Featherstone, 2005) The subject of the barrier the women are facing for progress is not just related to the females but for the entire economy, as the basic question is whether companies are making fruitful use of the expertise available to them.
Sex inequity reveals a failure relating to one half of the employees. An organization must make enduring efforts to support diversity in the place of work, which consist of setting up at the highest level of assurance and practice that allows for employee progress regardless of the gender of the employees. Companies like Wal-Mart are paying attention on the staffing of women and minorities into their recruits . The statistics showing that there are more women in the hourly working rate as compared to the top management leads to systematic discrimination. Personal narratives of female recruits about the adversities, lack of sympathy and informal hurdles which existed in the workplace, made an extremely prominent argument to support the charge of the systematic gender discrimination practiced at Wal-Mart is factual.
2. Labor – Based criticism in China and other Countries
Wal-Mart purchases mostly all its goods from China due to goods being cheaply manufactured there, which enables Wal-Mart to reap out the maximum benefit from the Chinese economy. Moreover, the American suppliers from which Wal-Mart purchases majority of its products have their manufacturing plants in China. This is not the concern the issue is that the organization is getting so much benefits from China and other countries where production of the goods for Wal-Mart takes place; it should at least provide the workers with their basic necessities and not violate the labor laws there. The company should be responsible to treat the workers from other countries in a humane manner. Complaints like not being provided with the lawful minimum wages, not given holidays, forcefully made to work extra hours, beaten by managers, exits were banned for us and being treated as slaves are some of the common things heard from the staff there.
