Gender Discrimination is a very real issues still and, surprisingly, you can get it at Walmart
The largest gender discrimination lawsuit in history is being allowed to proceed and it involves Walmart and 1 million women (see article at Forbes). In Betty Dukes vs. Walmart, Walmart, is claimed to have systematically discriminated against women in both pay and in promotions. The Daily Beast has an interesting short note on their site about one of the plaintiff’s stories, Dee Gunter, who was not only passed up for promotions she was clearly qualified for but also faced sexual harassment.
Walmart has an interesting record when it comes to how it deals with women:
- Women are only 33% of the company’s managers but comprise 65% of hourly employees
- Women were steered away from management positions into lower-level jobs without much advancement potential
- And an internal report in 1996 found “a pervasive hostility to women in management” and widespread agreement that “stereotypes limit opportunities offered to women” at the company
Discrimination against women is very real today. As long as people exist on earth, I suppose discrimination will thrive as one class or group feels that another is not worthy of equal rights. This is true even in the supposedly more egalitarian high tech sector where I work. Still, in today’s “modern” world I still have to shake my head about how common this is, whether its discrimination against trans-persons for being who they are or persecution of Christians for believing in God.
This is a little off topic but I am hoping you will post it. I know little about computers or I would start a blog of my own. I work for a transportation company for a state university. This company is considered part of the Univeristy. Out of 16 full time contracted employees, one is a women. The population of the area I work for is 40% female. I and two other women complained when they started hiring new men and giving them our hours. I wrote a letter and we had many meetings with the Gender Discrimination Department and Human Resources. Even all the full-time working men told Human Resources that there was a problem. I was told by the women who was head of the Human Resources Dept. that she, our male manager, and the women who was head of this universities gender discrimination department got together and decided to cut all part-time workers hours down from 38 hours a week to 22 hours a week. That was their solution to our problem. They used a University Presidential directive to justify their actions. Only part-time students from now on would be allowed more hours. Further, the students hours were cut from 38 to 30 hours a week. (It just so happens, by the way, that most of the female part-time workers were non-students). I was also told by the head of Human Resources that there was nothing I can do about it. I had no claim. I found out later that it was her job and the women who was head of the Gender Discrimination Department to write up the affirmative action plan. A women was up for one of those jobs that those 15 men had–full time contract protected positions. They all broke affirmative action laws by not hiring this women and hiring another man instead. Unfortunately, she was unaware of affirmative action laws at the time, and it was too late for her to file an EEOC claim. (I am originally from Washington State. They are very up on their affirmative action laws there and most of us know about them). Recently, we were told that we could receive only 10 hours a week. This was after another woman complained about her schedule. Suddenly, her weekly hours were cut down to 12 hours a week. We have lost two women. They couldn’t afford to stay so they moved out of state. The women who most recently had her hours cut is a disabled marine Iraqi vet. She is tuff and I believe she will fight for herself. I will be filing an EEOC complaint and I hope the two women who are left, will file one with me.
In this tough economy, Gender Discrimination has become more and more common. Unfortunatley, even at State Universities. I believe that these University employees cut our hours in retaliation and fear that they will be in trouble for their actions. They want to force us out. I know they have talked to the legal department about the best way for them to do this. I know someone in this department.
Further, I have been told that tomorrow we will have a meeting about our e-mails. It seems that our manager has been reading all our incoming and outgoing e-mails and suddenly he wants us to know about it. I made a mistake and opened my e-mail from the EEOC at work.
Please post this. If there is anyone out there who has gone through this or knows someone who has gone through this and has some advice please reply to Rebecca at tiggerkenwood@gmail.com. I hope it is all right that I left my e-mail address. Thank you.
Hey Rebecca, thank you for joining the conversation and leaving your comment … and what appears to be cry for help in your state? Have you tried contacting your states Department of Labor? Title VII is very clear about protecting workers in cases like you are in?