Posted on 06/25/2002 3:16:57 AM PDT by kattracks
CNSNews.com) - The nation's largest feminist organization is targeting the nation's largest retailer in an effort to make the company more "women-friendly."
National Organization for Women President Kim Gandy blasted retail giant Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. for "allegations of sex discrimination in pay, promotion and compensation," in naming the retailer a 'Merchant of Shame.'
"Wal-Mart is number one on the Fortune 500 list. It's also the number one most sued retailer in the United States," said Gandy in a statement. "It doesn't take a genius to see the problem with this picture."
Saying that women-friendly workplaces are "good for business," Gandy said, "I could say that NOW is dissatisfied with the way Wal-Mart conducts business with their employees, but that would be a huge understatement."
But an official with Wal-Mart's corporate office in Arkansas said women hold a wide variety of high-ranking positions within the company.
"When you look throughout our organization, you have women who are store managers, women in positions at the executive committee and on our board of directors," said Jessica Eldred, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart.
According to a Wal-Mart corporate profile by Marketguide, all nine of the company's executive officers were men as of May 14, and there were two women on Wal-Mart's 15-member board of directors as of the same date.
Eldred also noted that Wal-Mart's health insurance plan, which is available to part-time as well at full-time employees, offers mammograms to screen for breast cancer.
"We feel we offer competitive jobs and again, we have women in all levels," said Eldred, adding, "there's always room to get better." Other family-oriented programs available to employees, according to Eldred, include 24-hour confidential personal and family counseling services, discounts for child day care, an employee disaster relief fund and a college scholarship program for employees and dependents, which paid out $1.3 million in 2001.
Eldred said she has no knowledge of any request by NOW for a meeting with Wal-Mart officials to discuss the charges. Officials with NOW did not respond to numerous telephone inquiries seeking comment or specific information about the accusations.
Wal-Mart Highly Ranked in Corporate America
In terms of sales, Wal-Mart has the deepest pockets of any American corporation, recording nearly $220 billion in revenue in 2001, placing it ahead of corporate giants like General Motors, ExxonMobil, Ford and General Electric atop the Fortune 500 list of companies in the U.S.
Not only is Wal-Mart perched on the top spot in the Fortune 500, it's also ranked among the 100 best companies to work for by Fortune Magazine, pulling in at number 94 on the list.
The Fortune summary of Wal-Mart's placement in the top 100 best companies noted, "Wal-Mart faces a sex-discrimination suit and union battles, but employees still value its homey feel: 'This is a true family,' says one employee, and 77% of respondents say 'There is a family or team feeling here.'"
In direct contrast to NOW's complaints against Wal-Mart, the company is also ranked by Fortune as one of the best companies for women, based on the number of women who work for the company.
According to Fortune, 59% of Wal-Mart's U.S. work force of more than one million employees is women, placing it in 23rd place on Fortune's list of best companies for women. The company employs more than one-and-a-quarter million people worldwide.
NOW's Feminism Taken to Corporate America
Wal-Mart is the latest company to be included on NOW's 'Merchants of Shame' list, which is part of the feminist group's Women-Friendly Workplace and Campus Campaign.
The campaign "puts a framework around all our efforts to end workplace discrimination and abuse and encourage employers to have family-friendly policies," reads a summary of the program on the NOW Internet website.
Other corporations named as 'Merchants of Shame' by NOW include Mitsubishi Motors, Smith Barney, Detroit Edison and the U.S. Postal Service.
"NOW's campaign spurred Smith Barney, Mitsubishi Motors and other leading corporations to work toward creating truly women-friendly and family-friendly workplaces," said Gandy in a June 22 statement.
After NOW's campaign against Smith Barney and Mitsubishi, neither company was listed by Fortune as one of the best companies for women for 2001.
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