Wal-Mart and Women -- Research Paper

I was interested in problems of Wal-Mart after reading some articles about it. Wal-Mart is a famous store in small towns, and E. Locke said, “Wal-Mart is one of the most impressive success stories in the history of business” (2004, par. 4). And Wal-Mart will move into banking, used car sales, travel and internet access. However, Murphysboro and Carbondale might deny Wal-Mart’s entry into the area because Wal-Mart will make small business have some problems regarding whether people will go to buy some groceries with small business or not. One problem is that Wal-Mart does not have equality between men and women. Women feel unsatisfied about that. According to David Kravets (2005, par.5), Wal-Mart is defending itself against a “lawsuit filed on behalf of 1.6 million former and current women employees”. There are many problems with this. One of the reasons is Wal-Mart denies raises and promotion to women and pays less money to women than men. Another problem is women have no health care or maternity leave, even though they work from 7.30 A.M. to 8 P.M. seven days per week (Quinn, 2005). Wal-Mart’s bad conditions for women have caused some shoppers to be angry, and some women have started a boycott, but in general many people still shop there because they cannot resist low prices on pants, towels or canned goods.

There are many ways that Wal-Mart treats women differently from men.

The first and most important way is Wal-Mart has paid less money to women than men with the same seniority, even though they have the same position as men. For instance, men assistant managers at the store will get $60,000 a year, but women will get $23,000 or less than that (Quinn, 2005). Even top women senior vice presidents at Wal-Mart make an average of $279,772 a year; on the other hand, men senior vice presidents make an average of $419,435 a year (UFCW, n.d). Women also do not get promoted or get better jobs as often from Wal-Mart; moreover, “Wal-Mart loves to see them shopping, but hates to pay them equal wages” (Finkelstein, 2005, par. 2). However, Women should get the same wage as men because they can work like men do also. For instance, if women do work seriously, they should get a good income. I think it is unfair if they are industrious workers and work as many hours as men, but they did not get wage equality with other men. Sometimes, men may be lazy or not do work seriously, so how do they manage that? Wal-Mart should not discriminate between women and men. It is not fair, if females earn less money on average per year than males, even though women work the same quantity as men.

In addition, Women should deny oppose the arrival of Wal-Mart “when they are paid less than men for the same or comparable work, shut out of high paying jobs and occupations, subjected to sexual harassment and denied promotions and training opportunities” (ERA, 1974, par. 2). Moreover, if women did not get equal rights, they should not work at Wal-Mart, or people should stop shopping at Wal-Mart in order to resist or boycott Wal-Mart. Then Wal-Mart may not get as much as money as they want, so Wal-Mart may do something so that people will come back to buy some groceries at Wal-Mart again.

In addition, Wal-Mart has paid more money to men than women because Wal-Mart thinks men have a family and children to support. Another reason is that Wal-Mart management feels that the job is for men, it is not for women; women should stay at home and be housewives (Quinn, 2004). However, Wal-Mart should still not discriminate between women and men in promotions opportunities, compensation and job assignments. Otherwise, Wal-Mart can pay more money to male “employees who work in hazardous jobs” (Sixel, 2005, par. 8) or most risk danger.

Not only does Wal-Mart pay less money to women than men, but it also has no health insurance and no maternity leave. Women should get benefit from Wal-Mart or should have some promotion to give them. R. Kalra said, “Employees do not receive the employer’s health coverage” (2006, par. 7). However, women work seven days a week, sewing shirts and pants for Wal-Mart, so I wonder why women did not get health insurance from Wal-Mart. Women should require health insurance or do something. Or, Wal-Mart ought to get women in positions by job description. This method may be good for Wal-Mart because if Wal-Mart does that way, they may get more quality work from women. For instance, if women can do the same things as men, such as lifting something heavy, they should be able to have those jobs, so Wal-Mart should consider that. It helps Wal-Mart to have good employees, and then Wal-Mart can give some benefits to women such as health insurance or promotion.

In addition, every employee should have benefited, not only men, but women also, so that some people are poor; they do not have to pay too much for medicine cost. It can save their money and help people who cannot afford enough money. Moreover, health insurance is important for employees because if they die, their children can have money to provide for themselves. “less than half of Wal-Mart workers receive company health insurance, and 46 percent of its employees’ children are either uninsured or on public assistance” (Kalra, 2006, par. 11).

In addition, “Wal-Mart uses a business model of paying as little as possible for health coverage; these practices have three negative effects. It shifts costs to the public… it harms working adults who often go without coverage of any sort for themselves and their children. And it also sets up an unfair business climate for fair-minded employees who do provide health care” (Joseph, 2006, par. 7).

Furthermore, women cannot work in some departments in Wal-Mart. Most women cannot work in a technical job such as a hardware department. Wal-Mart would like women to work in toys because they are women. Sometimes, women know some information about hardware or a technical department. For instance, some women can know well about hardware because they might have experience from their work. On the other hand, some men might not know about this information, so women should work in the hardware department if they know well about hardware. Therefore, Wal-Mart should survey about women’s jobs or what kind of jobs that women know well. If Wal-Mart knows about that job, they can focus on the position and find the best employee to work in their company. For example, some women are good at organization, so they may organize material or check stock. Some women know well about medicine and want to work about that, so they can work in the medicine store.

In addition, women should show some abilities, or give their information to Wal-Mart, so that it is not only in the toy department that they can do well, but they can do well in some other departments also. Men make up the ranks of management, comprising 92 percent of cashiers, and 76 percent of sales associates of Wal-Mart store are women. “Wal-Mart employs fewer women in management today than its competitors” (UFCW, n.d). And “90 percent of Wal-Mart store manager positions are men” (Finkelstein, 2005, par. 5).

In addition, “Male managers at Wal-Mart Stores required their female counterparts to attend meetings at strip clubs and at Hooters” (USA TODAY, 2003, par. 1). And Williams said, “The fact that a man might force female associates to bars and places like that to have meetings, it is very offensive to me and everybody else at Wal-Mart" (2003, par. 8).

In conclusion, there are many ways that Wal-Mart treats women differently from men. First, Wal-Mart has paid less money to women than men with the same seniority, and has paid less money to employees than employees of union.
Second, Wal-Mart should get people in position by job description in that it can help Wal-Mart to get a good employee to work in there. Last, Wal-Mart should survey about women’s job so that Wal-Mart will know well about the capabilities of women. Which person can do well in which department? In the end, Wal-Mart will change its policy only under pressure, so Women who do their jobs and speak out when they feel that Wal-Mart has treated them unfairly can change the way they do business. Women can be as good as employees as men. Some women have good ability to do any work, so how does Wal-Mart know that men should get more wage than women? However, Wal-Mart should do the right thing for women; so, do you still shop at Wal-Mart?

Reference:

Equal Rights Advocates (ERA). (1974). Equal rights and economic opportunities for women and girls. Retrieved on Feb, 25, 2006 from http://www.equalrights.org/
Equal rights and economic opportunities for women and girls

Finkelstein, E. (2005, March 31). Wal-Mart manager: ‘A trained monkey’ can do a woman’s job. Worker Times. Retrieved on February 26, 2006 from http://www.workertimes.com/ltribune/walmart5.html
Wal-Mart manager: ‘A trained monkey’ can do a woman’s job

Joseph, R. (2006, February 2). Wal-Mart, pay your fair share. Retrieved on February 26, 2006 from http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/257827_fairshare02.html
Wal-Mart, pay your fair share

Kalra, R. (2006, February 17). Wal-Mart faults health insurance idea. Hartford Courant. Retrieved on February 25, 2006 from http://www.courant.com/business/hc-walmarthealth0217.artfeb17,0,6045668.story?coll=hc-headlines-business
Wal-Mart faults health insurance id

Kravets, D. (2005, August 5). Wal-Mart, facing billions of dollars in
damages, wants bias case tossed. Financial News. Retrieved on Jan. 23, 2006 from Lexis-Nexis

Locke, E. A. (2004, February 22). Three cheers for Wal-Mart. Capitalism Magazine. Retrieved on February 25, 2006 from http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=3534
Three cheers for Wal-Mart

Moss, D. (2004, July 1). Women in Wal-Mart suit forcing change. Editorial/Opinion. Retrieved on February 26, 2006 from http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2004-07-01-moss_x.htm
Women in Wal-Mart suit forcing change

Quinn, B. (2005, July 5). Wal-Mart vs. women: sisterhood should draw line in sand. Times Herald-Record, Middletown NY. Retrieved on Jan. 30, 2006 from http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2004/07/05/bethcolj.htm
Wal-Mart vs. women: sisterhood should draw line in sand

Sixel, L. M. (2005, January 26). Author tells ways women can boost earning power. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved on February 26, 2006 from http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/sixel/3011039.html
Author tells ways women can boost earning power

United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. (UFCW). (no date). Wal-Martizaton of women’s jobs. Retrieved on Feb. 20, 2006 from http://www.ufcw.org/issues_and_actions/walmart_workers_campaign_info/facts_and_figures/walmartandwomen.cfm Wal-Martizaton of women’s jobs

USA TODAY. (2003, April 29). Female Wal-Mart workers: Meetings held at strip clubs. Money. Retrieved on February 26, 2006 from http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2003-04-29-walmart-discrimination-suit_x.htm
Female Wal-Mart workers: Meetings held at strip clubs

Argument Essay

I was interested in problems of Wal-Mart after reading some articles about it. Wal-Mart is a famous store in the small town, and E. Locke said, “Wal-Mart is one of the most impressive success stories in the history of business” (2004, par. 4). And Wal-Mart will move into banking, used car sales, travel and internet access. However, Murphysboro and Carbondale might deny Wal-Mart because Wal-Mart will make small business have some problems whether people will not go to buy some groceries with small business. The problem is that Wal-Mart does not have equality between men and women. Women feel unsatisfied about that. According to David Kravets (2005), Wal-Mart is defending itself against a “lawsuit filed on behalf of 1.6 million former and current women employees”. There are many problems with this. One of the reasons is Wal-Mart denies raises and promotion to women and pays less money to women than men. Another problem is women have no health care or maternity leave, even though they work from 7.30 A.M. to 8 P.M. seven days per week (Quinn, 2005). Wal-Mart’s bad conditions for women have caused some shopper to be angry, and some women have started a boycott, but in general many people still shop there because they cannot resist low prices on pants, towels or canned goods.

There are many ways that Wal-Mart should do between men and women.

The first and most important way is Wal-Mart should have equality between men and women. Women should get the same wage as men because they can work like men do also. For instance, if women do work seriously, they should get a good income. I think it is unfair if they are industrious workers and work as many hours as men, but they did not get wage equality with other men. Sometimes, men may be lazy or not do work seriously, so how do they manage that? Wal-Mart should not discriminate between women and men. It is not fair, if females earn less money on average per year than males, even though women work the same quantity as men.

Moreover, Wal-Mart should get women in positions by job description. This method may be good for Wal-Mart because if Wal-Mart does that way, they may get more quality work from women. For instance, if women who can do the same things as men such as lifting something heavy, they should be able to have those jobs, so Wal-Mart should consider that. It helps Wal-Mart to have good employees, and then Wal-Mart can pay the same salary to women as to men.

Furthermore, Wal-Mart should survey about women’s jobs or what kind of jobs that women know well. If Wal-Mart knows about that job, they can focus on the position and find the best employee to work in their company. For example, some women are good at organization, so they may organize material or check stock. Some women know well about medicine and want to work about that, so they can work in the medicine store.

In conclusion, there are many ways that Wal-Mart should manage women. First, Wal-Mart should have equality between men and women. Second, Wal-Mart should get people in position by job description. Last, Wal-Mart should survey about women’s job. In the end, the result will be that women can be good as employees as men. Some women have good ability to do any work, so how does Wal-Mart know that men should get more wage than women? How can they measure that?

Reference:

Kravets, D. (2005, August 5). Wal-Mart, facing billions of dollars in
damages, wants bias case tossed. Financial News. Retrieved on Jan. 23, 2006 from Lexis-Nexis

Quinn, B. (2005, July 5). Wal-Mart vs. women: sisterhood should draw line in sand. Times Herald-Record, Middletown NY. Retrieved on Jan. 30, 2006 from http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2004/07/05/bethcolj.htm
Wal-Mart vs. women

United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. (UFCW). (no date). Wal-Martizaton of women’s jobs. Retrieved on Feb. 20, 2006 from http://www.ufcw.org/issues_and_actions/walmart_workers_campaign_info/facts_and_figures/walmartandwomen.cfmWal-Martization of women's job

Research proposal

I was interested in problems of Wal-Mart after reading some articles about it. I knew that Wal-Mart has many problems such as entering banking, relation with small business and treatment of women. I think I am interested in the topic of Wal-Mart and women because I would like to know what the problem between Wal-Mart and women is. The problem is that Wal-Mart does not have equality between men and women. Women feel unsatisfied about that. According to David Kravets (2005), Wal-Mart is defending itself against a lawsuit filed on behalf of 1.6 million former and current women employees (par.3). There are many problems with this. One of the reasons is Wal-Mart denies raises and promotion to women and pays less money to women than men. Another problem is women have no health care or maternity leave, even though they work from 7.30 A.M. to 8 P.M. seven days per week (Quinn, 2005, par. 5). Wal-Mart's bad conditions for women have caused some shoppers to be angry, and some women have started a boycott.

I plan on writing that there are three things Wal-Mart should do between men and women. First, Wal-Mart should pay the same wage to women as men and Wal-Mart should also have equality between men and women. Second, Wal-Mart should survey about womens jobs or what kind of jobs that women can do well in order to focus on the position and find the best employee to work in the company. Finally, Wal-Mart should get people in positions by job description because they may get more quality work from women. Also, more research should be done, especially on they way long-term Wal-Mart women employees are able to handle this problem.

I have found some articles that give information about Wal-Mart and women, and have found websites that help me to know the problem. I still need an article about how Wal-Mart and women topic could be used to solve this problem.

Reference:
Kravets, D. (2005, August 5). Wal-Mart, facing billions of dollars in
damages, wants bias case tossed. Financial News. Retrieved on Jan. 23, 2006 from Lexis-Nexis.

Quinn, B. (2005, July 5). Wal-Mart vs. women: sisterhood should draw line in sand. Times Herald-Record, Middletown NY. Retrieved on Jan. 30, 2006 from http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2004/07/05/bethcolj.htm

Wal-Mart vs. women

Wal-Mart vs. women #2

In the article, “Wal-Mart vs. women: Sisterhood should draw line in sand,” Beth Quinn states that she started a boycott of Wal-Mart five years ago. Sam Walton, who was the founder of Wal-Mart, thought that women should be housewives for cooking and raising children. In addition, Wal-Mart paid less money to women than men and did not support women to get a better job. Some managers who work at Wal-Mart said that Wal-Mart would not admit women who have a family because they have responsibility to raise children. Some women, who wanted to work in Wal-Mart hardware, were told, “We need you in toys. You are a girl, why do you want to be in hardware?”(Quinn, 2005, par. 12). Every woman who works in Wal-Mart is slave labor. In Bangladesh, young women work from 7.30 A.M to 8.00 P.M. every day, sewing shirts and pants for Wal-Mart. They have no health care and maternity leave; moreover, 40%-70% of their wages are less than legal wage in Bangladesh. Some women do not go to Wal-Mart even though they will have low prices, but some women cannot resist low prices on pants or towels or canned goods.

There are many ways that Wal-Mart treats women different from men.

The first and most important way is Wal-Mart has paid less money to women than men, even though they have the same position as men. For instance, a male assistant manager at the store will get $60,000 a year, but a female will get $23,000 or less than. Women also do not get promoted as often from Wal-Mart.

Not only does Wal-Mart pay less money to women than men, but it also has no health care and no maternity leave. Women have a job every day like men do, so they should have health care. For instance, women work from 8.00 A.M. to 7.30 P.M.; however, Wal-Mart should give benefits welfare to them because they are workers. Every worker should have welfare not only men, but women also.

Furthermore, women cannot work in a Wal-Mart technical job such as a hardware department. Wal-Mart would like women to work in toys because they are women. Sometimes, women know some information about hardware or a technical department. For instance, some women can know well about hardware because they might have experience from their work. On the other hand, some men might not know about this information, so women should work in the hardware department if they know well about hardware.

In conclusion, there are many ways that Wal-Mart treats women different from men. First, Wal-Mart has paid less money to women than men. Second, Wal-Mart has no health care and no maternity leave for women. Last, Wal-Mart does not want women to work in technical department. In the end, Wal-Mart should have equality between women and men because sometimes, they can do the same work as men.

Reference
Quinn, B. (2005, July 5). Times Herald-Record, Middletown NY. Wal-Mart vs. women: sisterhood should draw line in sand. Retrieved on Jan. 30, 2006 from http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2004/07/05/bethcolj.htm

link to the article

Wal-Mart and women #1

In the article,”Wal-Mart, facing billions of dollars in damages, wants bias case tossed,” David Kravets states that Wal-Mart denies promotion to women and paid them less than men. Wal-Mart wants the government to decide this problem. Employees and counterparts deny Wal-Mart in order that Wal-Mart paid compensation back to current and former employees. One of employees says a statistical compensation formula that factors in pay, gender, job description and store location. Mostly lawsuits will be against discrimination. The conventional rules of class actions might not apply in this case because there are 3,400 stores that are managed as independent businesses with different managers and stores.

In my opinion there are many ways that Wal-Mart should manage women.

The first and most important way is Wal-Mart should have equality between men and women. Women should get the same wage as men because they can work like men do also. For instance, if women do work seriously, they should get a good income. I think it is unfair if they are industrious workers and work as many hours as men, but they did not get wage equality with other men. Sometimes men may be lazy or not do work seriously, so how do they manage that?

Moreover, Wal-Mart should get people in positions by job description. This method may be good for Wal-Mart because if Wal-Mart does that way, they may get more quality work from women. For instance, if women who can do the same things as men such as lifting something heavy, they should be able to have those jobs, so Wal-Mart should consider that. It helps Wal-Mart to have good employees and then Wal-Mart can pay the same salary to women as to men.

Furthermore, Wal-Mart should survey about women’s jobs or what kind of jobs that women can do well. If Wal-Mart knows about that job, they can focus on the position and find the best employee to work in their company. For example, some women are good at organization, so they may organize material or check stock. Some women know well about medicine and want to work about that, so they should work in the medicine store.

In conclusion, there are many ways that Wal-Mart should manage women. First, Wal-Mart should have equality between men and women. Second, Wal-Mart should get people in position by job description. Last, Wal-Mart should survey about women’s job. In the end, the result that women can be good as employees as men. Some women have good ability to do any work, so how does Wal-Mart know that men should get more wage than women. How can they measure that?


Reference
Kravets, D. (2005, August 5). Wal-Mart, facing billions of dollars in damages, wants bias case tossed. Retrieved on Jan. 23, 2006 from Lexis-Nexis.

Wal-Mart

In the article, “Some Cities Resisting Wal-Mart Expansion,” Emily Kaiser states that some cities denied Wal-Mart. Some people around the small town like Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is the biggest company in the world. It dominates in the small town. Most of the small stores do not like Wal-Mart because it made them be closed. Recently, Dallas and New Orleans refused Wal-Mart because of community. Wal-Mart will not appear in the big city such as New York or Chicago. In addition, Wal-Mart has a three-level store in Los Angeles, so people can bring carts between floors, but they feel annoyance rather than convenience. People do not like to go up; they are more likely to go down than up. They may go to a place that has food.

I feel that Wal-Mart is necessary in the small town. There are many reasons that I go to Wal-Mart.

The first and most important reason is Wal-Mart has a lot of things. I can buy everything that I want at Wal-Mart. In addition, I can choose which is the best thing for me because there are many kinds of things to buy such as clothing, food, pharmacy and stationery. For instance, if I want to buy some foods, I should go to Wal-Mart to buy food. There are many kinds of foods whether it is pork, beef, chicken, bacon or milk.

Not only does Wal-Mart have a lot of things, but it is also open 24 hours and every day. This is comfortable for people who are busy, because they can go there at any time; for example, people can go there when they finish their work or have a free time. Furthermore, I can go there any time and get whatever I need. For instance, if I get sick at night and then I do not have any medicine in my home, I can go to Wal-Mart to buy some medicines in order to relieve my pain. It is good for me if I have any problems suddenly.

Moreover, Wal-Mart has everything to buy and it is cheap. Wal-Mart is bigger than other supermarkets. For instance, when I go to Wal-Mart, I can buy clothing, furniture, kitchenware and other things in the same day. I do not have to spend time to go another place anymore. Even though some of it is not good, it is a low quality to use. I just use it for a while and then I throw it away, because it is not of high enough quality to use it again. In addition, I have no choice in that Wal-Mart is the only supermarket where I can buy everything.

In conclusion, there are many reasons that I go to Wal-Mart. First, Wal-Mart has everything to buy. Second, Wal-Mart is open 24 hours. Last, Wal-Mart has everything to buy and it is cheap. In the end, I still go to buy some stuff at Wal-Mart even though I know that something is not good or low quality.

Reference
Kaiser,E. (2003,July 12). Some cities resisting Wal-Mart expansion. Reuters, Common Dreams News Center. Retrieved on Jan. 17, 2006 from http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0712-06.htm

link to the article

My Plans For Thanksgiving Break

In next week is a vacation. The first is to meet my friend from Thailand. He will come here to meet me. I am very happy to see him because I really miss my friends from Thailand. In addition, he will spend time with me for 2 or 3 days and then he will go to Georgia. We plan to go somewhere around here, but we do not know yet where we will go. Next, I will go to Nashville with my boyfriend on Thursday because he has to work on Monday to Wednesday. I am very surprised when I know that he has to work in next week because I think most companies are closed and next week is vacation, but he has to work. However, we have planned to go to Nashville. We will go to museum and Elvis’s home. Actually, I do not know about information for traveling in U.S., but my boyfriend knows quite a bit about that. I think that place is a beautiful place and not far from here.

Decisions

My decision is education. I graduated in Bachelor Degree about Mathematics in Thailand so I want to study Master Degree about communication in Engineering in U.S. and I also want to speak english influenced. I decide to study communication because I think it is good for me when I graduate this major to work in the future. This major is kind of Network such as how to communicate in the computer. Actually, I am not decisive person, but I have to decide some educations and practice skills in English because it is very importance and usefulness for me. Moreover, I think if I graduate Master Degree, I will have more opportune than other people to find a job. In Thailand, if people just graduated Bachelor Degree, sometimes it is not enough for them. Therefore, most people want to study in Master Degree, If they have decisively opportunity. Finally, I have to do my attention to complete.

Problems of International Students

I came to U.S. 6 months ago and I want to study graduate school in SIUC. In addition, I am studying language in CESL. I am glad to meet international friends and U.S. is very nice place. I am really happy; however, I have some problems here. In U.S. there are many things that I have to adapt to.

The first is food. I often eat hamburgers when I live here. I feel I have no choice; I cannot find all Thai foods in Carbondale, but Carbondale has Thai restaurant, but they just have a few things, they do not have many kinds of Thai food. Thus I try to make some Thai food, it is also very hard to find some ingredients. For instance, in Thailand there are many vegetables such as kale, water mimosa and morning glory, and I really like them, but I cannot find them here. Sometimes, there are some vegetables like that, but they are a little bit different.

Moreover, communication is also my problem because I am not fluent speaking English. Sometimes, when American people talk to me, I cannot understand them. For instance, when I go to mall, employee asks me something, but I do not understand them. Sometimes, I am going to pay money for my clothes and then they say something to me. I do not understand and I feel very nervous about that.

Furthermore, transportation is very hard. I think Carbondale is a small town, however; the bus comes just once an hour so it is difficult to go somewhere. I think people need the car because if people do not have a car, they will feel uncomfortable. For instance, when I want to go somewhere in order to buy some foods or clothes, I have to tell my boyfriend or friends so that they will drive me there. I feel uncomfortable when I have to depend on other people.

In conclusion, there are many reasons that I have some problems. The first is food, next is communication and the last thing is transportation. However, these problems will be solved in the future. People will speak English very well when they will not live in their own country for a long time, so everything is going be better.