Walmart, the world's largest retailer and private employer, has built a highly profitable business centered on a low-cost strategy that uses logistical efficiencies to create a competitive advantage. However, 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 class certification of 1.5 million women in Dukes v. Due to the lack of evidence that Walmart operated under a “general policy of discrimination,” overwhelming evidence shows 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, a surplus of unskilled labor existed due to the “increasing mechanization of agricultural labor.” Capitalizing on this pent-up demand for labor, Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, provided these farmers with proud responsibilities as managers of his retail stores, employing their wives and daughters as low-wage employees (Lichenstein, 2011). Forty or fifty years later, in an economy weakened by high unemployment, particularly among an unskilled and poorly educated workforce, the practice of promoting men to store management while women are forced to settle for low-wage jobs remains prevalent at Walmart. Indeed, the plaintiffs' statistical analysis in Dukes v. Walmart 2001 showed that women made up nearly 70% of hourly employees, but only 33% of management positions (Hymowitz, 2011). The overwhelming disparities between men and women in management relative to the proportion of those in hourly positions further cement the continued existence…at the heart of the paper…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., & Bartol, K. (2008). Leader ratings: A new female advantage? Gender in Management: An International Journal, 23, 156-174. Rosette, A., & Tost, L. (2010). Women agents and community leadership: How role prescriptions confer advantage on the best female leaders. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(2), 221-235. doi:10.1037/a0018204Wal-Mart Class Website. (2011). “Summary of the statements”. Retrieved from November 22, 2011 The official site for the women in the Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.