Even in the 21st century women are still discriminated against in the workplace leading to glass ceiling. Glass ceiling means the condition or situation in which women find themselves in the workplace not in a position to ascend the managerial positions and acquire top posts in the company management. Wal-Mart is the largest employer in the world; however, the company has been accused of gender discrimination in the workplace thus leading to the glass ceiling. The barriers reported in Wal-Mart stores are man-made and caused by man. However, one of the guiding principles of Wal-Mart is to ensure that discrimination is not practiced in the workplace (Wal-Mart, 2008). It also advocates for diversification in the workforce. Contrary, to the advocacy for workforce diversification claims by Wal-Mart, the company has been facing lawsuits based discrimination that has hindered the promotion of women in the workplace.
In my opinion there are barriers in Wal-Mart that have resulted to the low number of women in the managerial posts. For example, women are discriminated against in Wal-Mart thus preventing them from ascending the managerial posts. This can be supported by a lawsuit that was filed by women in demand for more managerial posts. For instance, in Indiana the Wal-Mart stores have only 35% of managers in different stores compared to 57% of women managers in other stores (Siekman, 2011). Although there are 13 stores in Indiana with 300 employees each only 35% of the women employees have been employed as store managers. This means that the rest which is 65% are men. The affirmative action requires equal opportunities for employees as supported by equal opportunities Act. Therefore, Wal-Mart operates with the aim of satisfying it needs rather than satisfying the needs of the majority people.
In a law suit presented to the district Attorney in California, the women claimed that they were being discriminated because of their gender (Martin, 2011). The lawsuit filed on 24 October, 2011, was based on job pay and promotion of women in their different chains and stores. Although the case was dismissed on the grounds that the case was based on group outcry rather than individual grounds, but it emerged that women are discriminated. For instance, one of the claims by a vice president in California Wal-Mart stores claimed that women do not get managerial posts since they are committed to the family (Martin, 2011). Logically, women have become liberalized and they are no longer subdued to the old thoughts and perceptions of being housekeepers. It is not appropriate to deny women managerial posts on that ground.
Denying women promotions violates their basic labour right as accorded by the ILO conventions. Women like men have the right to enjoy the right of work as well as choice of profession (SRI World Group, 2000). This also violates the Glass Ceiling Act of 1991 which advocates for the employment of women in managerial posts (SRI World Group, 2000). Past reports of Wal-Mart confirm that show that women have all along been denied the opportunity to join the managerial posts.
Given that women earn different pay from men working under the same condition and position qualifies as discrimination by itself. For example, Stephanie Odle a former employee of Wal-Mart was fired after claiming that she was discriminated on sex basis (Martin, 2011). The male employee was paid $23,000 annually more than the women. Given this scenario, it is in my opinion that the woman has lower chance of getting a promotion if the pay is not equally distributed. This artificial barrier has led to the current situation of numerous lawsuits by women bodies. From ethical point of view, men and women need to be employed and paid the same salary. This could solve the issue of women discrimination in the workplace.
One of the shareholders of Wal-Mart has been concerned on the issue of glass ceiling in the company (SRI World Group, 2000). The concern by shareholder is a confirmation that sex discrimination in Wal-Mart is indeed a common problem that has led to stagnation of women career wise. Therefore it is true that women in Wal-Mart are discriminated against leading to glass ceiling. It is the right of women to enjoy employment like their male counterparts and be treated like men. Morally this is wrong and ethically wrong as it denies a woman the opportunity to enjoy the same benefits as men. The claim made is that male workers in Wal-Mart have the capacity of single focus while women have the capacity of processing information faster (Martin, 2011). This gives the men the upper hand in joining managerial posts than women. It is also imperative to note that if women hold low managerial posts, the possibility of getting promotion is low. Through a policy making in the Wal-Mart in the workplace, it could be possible to ensure that women get annual promotions.