Wal-Mart Manager Madness: Vote Now
Update: We have a "winner!" By a 70-30 margin, "Bad Equipment" defeats "Low Cut Shirts" to become the Slam Dunk Statement of the Year. See below for details and the scores of past rounds. How'd we get here? View the Manager Madness brackets. Wal-Mart v. Dukes Action CenterTen years ago a group of women who worked at Wal-Mart stores filed a lawsuit alleging that their employer engaged in companywide sex discrimination by paying women less than men, promoting fewer women to management positions, and promoting male employees more quickly. The case, Wal-Mart v. Dukes – now a class action – has made its way to the Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments on March 29th. Manager Madness: Vote BelowSome of the most revealing evidence to emerge so far? Reports from over 100 women employees describing both their experiences and statements made by Wal-Mart managers that embodied the absurd stereotype that women workers are fundamentally inferior to male workers. To highlight that the class of women should absolutely be allowed to move forward with their company-wide discrimination claims (and to have a little fun), we've gathered some of the most egregious statements by Wal-Mart managers – and you get to vote on which is the most outrageous! "Manager Madness," inspired by March Madness – the NCAA men's and women's basketball series – is a bracket-style competition, with your votes whittling down the Sexist Sixteen to the Egregious Eight to the Foul Four and all the way down to the "winning" line. Come back to this page daily to vote in each round and to get the latest results! | ||||
Vote Now! | Take Action | |||
The "Winner" of The Sexist Slam DunkYour votes did the dirty work of culling through sixteen outrageous statements attributed to Wal-Mart managers to choose:
"Bad Equipment" wins a clear and convincing victory over "Low Cut Shirts," taking all the marbles and being crowned the Slam Dunk Sexist Statement of the Year. Congratulations, or something. The Road to the Championship:
The ResultsFoul Four ResultsEach of these "winners" advances to the championship round! Bracket One
The closest contest so far! "Low Cut Shirts" edges out "Whore for a Quarter" by only two votes to head to the final. Bracket Two
"Bad Equipment" has what it takes to beat "Barefoot and Pregnant" 58% to 42%, but can it prevail in the last round? Results of Past RoundsRound Two (Egregious Eight) Bracket One
"Low Cut Shirts" sliced through the competition, sending "Head of Household" home by a 12% margin. Round Two (Egregious Eight) Bracket Two
"Whore for a Quarter" wins the only utterly lopsided vote in the round, with "Grow a Pair" able to cultivate a mere 15% of the total vote. Round Two (Egregious Eight) Bracket Three
"Barefoot and Pregnant" maybe, but still able to walk all over "Extra Money" and win by a 2-1 margin. Round Two (Egregious Eight) Bracket Four
"Bad Equipment" once more defies its name and shows that it has at least some of the right stuff, though "Worthless Broad" managed to put 41% of the vote on the scoreboard. Round One (Sexist Sixteen) Results!Bracket One:
In the toughest battle of the round, "Head of Household" slipped past "Female Managers" at the buzzer, winning by just six votes out of almost 2000 cast. Bracket Two:
An absolute blow-out: "Low Cut Shirts" wins with an astonishing 97% of the vote. Bracket Three:
"Barefoot and Pregnant" put in a strong showing sure to intimidate the competition, receiving 75% of the vote. Bracket Four:
The voters weren't playing around with this one: "Extra Money" took 88% of the vote. Bracket Five:
In a tight race to the finish, "Grow a Pair" edges past "What About the Kids?" 52%-48%. Bracket Six:
"Whore for a Quarter" sends "Boy's Club" crying to its momma, 69%-31% Bracket Seven:
"Stay at Home" should have lived up to its name: "Bad Equipment" notwithstanding, "Home" suffered an 86%-14% defeat. Bracket Eight:
"A Man's Job" found this contest too heavy a lift: "Worthless Broad" put it in its place 81%-19%. How Manager Madness Works
Our tournament is set up like a men's or women's March Madness tournament; our bracket starts with the 16 most sexist, offensive, and outrageous alleged statements Wal-Mart managers said to or about the company's female employees -- we like to call them the Sexist 16. Voting for the first day of competition will began on March 29 and lasted through April4, with the first eight statements competing on the 29 and 30, and the second batch of eight thereafter. The statements that win their matchups went on to the next round – the Egregious Eight – on April 5th. The next crop of winners will advance to the Foul Four on April 7 and 8, until we finally reach our championship round and crown the winning statement as "The Sexist Slam-Dunk" on April 12. Until then, we'll keep you on top of the action with an updated bracket showing the winners – and losers – of the competition. |
Stand with the Women of Wal-MartUrge Your Members of Congress to Co-Sponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act to show your support of the Women of Wal-Mart and to fight against pay discrimination. More ResourcesMedia Watch the Center's Marcia Greenberger discuss Wal-Mart v. Dukes on: Or listen to Marcia on NPR's Diane Rehm Show. Plus, watch footage from our rally at the Supreme Court on CNN. Fact Sheets
Blog Posts
| |||
How You Can Help
Sign Up for Email Updates
Follow Us on the Web
All Statements in the Competition
Bracket One
- Head of Household (According to a Wal-Mart Manager: A man deserved the position b/c he was the "head of his household.")
- Female Managers (A Wal-Mart employee was told, "I don't like college graduates, and I don't like female managers.")
Bracket Two
- Guns ("You don't want to work with guns.")
- Low Cut Shirts ("If you would wear lower cut shirts, you would probably get more pay.")
Bracket Three
- Extra Rib (A female employee was told, "Women weren't qualified to be managers because men had an extra rib.")
- Barefoot and Pregnant (Store Manager: Women should be "at home with a bun in the oven" and "barefoot and pregnant.")
Bracket Four
- Toys ("We need you in Toys... you're a girl, why do you want to be in Hardware?")
- Extra Money ("Men are here to make a career and women aren't. Retail is for housewives who just need to earn extra money.")
Bracket Five
- What about the kids? ("[Manager] told me I would not want to enter [Management Training] program because I would not want to relocate my children.")
- Grow a Pair ("You need to grow some balls.")
Bracket Six
- Boy's Club ("You aren't a part of the boy's club, and you should raise a family and stay in the kitchen.")
- Whore for a Quarter ("The way I see it, a whore for a quarter is a whore for a quarter.")
Bracket Seven
- Stay at Home (A female employee was told to quit because she "needed to be home raising my daughter.")
- Bad Equipment ("You don't have the right equipment...you aren't male, so you can't expect to be paid the same.")
Bracket Eight
- Worthless Broad ("[Manager] called me into his office ... he was very abusive in his language, and he called me a 'worthless broad.'")
- A Man's Job ("You don't want that job -- you don't want to lift furniture -- that's a man's job.")