Walmart, the world's largest retailer and private employer, has created a highly profitable business centered on a low-cost strategy that uses logistics efficiency to create competitive advantage. Yet, to maintain this low-cost strategy, Walmart has engaged in ethically questionable practices, including gender discrimination in promotion and pay. While the Supreme Court recently ruled against the collective certification of 1.5 million women in Dukes v. Walmart due to lack of evidence that Walmart operated under a "blanket policy of discrimination", overwhelming evidence demonstrates that gender discrimination is a persistent problem rooted in Walmart's culture, despite gender neutral policies (Biskupic, 2011). During the 1950s and 1960s, in northwest Arkansas, there was a surplus of unskilled labor due to the "increasing mechanization of agricultural labor." Taking advantage of this pent-up job demand, Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, gave these farmers proud responsibilities as managers of his retail stores, while employing their wives and daughters as low-wage clerks (Lichenstein, 2011). Forty to fifty years later, in an economy marked by high unemployment, particularly among an unskilled and poorly educated workforce, the practice of encouraging men to run stores while women are forced to settling for low-wage work remains prevalent at Walmart. In fact, the plaintiffs' statistical analysis in the Dukes v. Walmart in 2001 showed that women made up almost 70% of hourly employees, but only 33% of management positions (Hymowitz, 2011). The huge disparities between men and women in management positions compared to the proportion of those in hourly positions further cements the continued existence... middle of article... three research paradigms. Psychological Bulletin, 137(4), 616-642. doi:10.1037/a0023557Lichenstein, N. (2011) The Authoritarian Culture of Wal-Mart. New York Times Lichenstein, N. (2007) Why Working at Walmart is Different Connecticut Law Review, Volume 39 Number 4, May 2007 Powell, G., Butterfield, D. and Bartol, K. (2008). Leader evaluations: a new female advantage? Gender in Management: An International Journal, 23, 156-174. Rosette, A. and Tost, L. (2010). Women agents and community leadership: How role prescriptions confer advantage to high-level women leaders. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(2), 221-235. doi:10.1037/a0018204Wal-Mart Classroom website. (2011). “Statement Summaries”. Retrieved November 22, 2011. The official site for the women involved in the Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc class action lawsuit..