Research Paper on:
Gender and the Organization (Wal-Mart as a Case Study)

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
at least on the surface. There is much lip service given to the idea that equality reigns. In politics, there is Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice and Alan Keyes, amongst other  individuals who demonstrate that perhaps there could some day be a black or female president. To date, this has never happened. Also boards of directors tend to be white men.  It is often the case that within large organizations, there are "token" women (Katner, 1977). Yet, women have not received the social status in corporate America that might be expected  by the twenty-first century. At least, there are still barriers. Similarly, black males have not achieved the same decision-making power in corporate America as their white counterparts (Collins, 1997).  In many ways, the observations is schizophrenic. Yes, things appear to be equal, but when digging deeper, there are problems. Some companies are better than others, but there are firms  that seem to be throwbacks to earlier eras. There are women who are criticized for becoming pregnant, or negative remarks are made toward women simply due to gender stereotypes. There  are many examples of this phenomenon. One prominent example is Wal-Mart. Many scandals would plague Wal Mart and a bunch would center on workers. For example, the bags Kathie Gifford  would oversee that would claim international notoriety due to the sweat shops utilized, was tied to Wal-Mart (Esbenshade, 2004). An article in the Economist states the following: "The biggest  of these is a class action seeking damages on behalf of 1.6m past and current female workers for alleged sexual discrimination in pay, promotion and training" ("The Everyday Price Cutter,"  2004). While again, there are many problems in this large corporation that prides itself on values, there is much to say about discrimination and one lawsuit was waged by women.