Walmart has joined a growing list of major corporations and rolled back its diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
The move by the world’s largest retailer marks a seismic shift in corporate strategy that comes after attacks by conservatives and activists at the company’s ‘woke’ policies.
Some of the sweeping changes include abandoning a $100 million racial equity center set up in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd and leaving a prominent LGBTQ+ gay rights index.
The retail juggernaut also won’t be giving priority treatment to suppliers that are 51 percent-owned by women, minorities, veterans or members of the LGBTQ community.
Walmart’s pivot is the latest domino to fall in a growing conservative crusade against DEI initiatives and underscores the increasing pressures faced by corporate America as it continues to navigate the fallout from the Supreme Court’s ruling in June 2023 that ended affirmative action in college admissions.
Emboldened by that decision, conservative groups have filed lawsuits making similar arguments about corporations, targeting workplace initiatives such as diversity programs and hiring practices that prioritize historically marginalized groups.
Right-wing groups have relentlessly targeted corporate diversity efforts, branding them as ‘woke overreach.’ Separately, conservative political commentator and activist Robby Starbuck has been going after corporate DEI policies, calling out individual companies on X.
Several of those companies, including Ford, Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s, and Tractor Supply, have subsequently announced that they are rethinking their initiatives.
Boeing also took apart its DEI department, reassigning staffers to teams within the company’s human resources department
Bud Light beer lost its spot as the top-selling beer in the U.S. in 2023 following a controversy over a social-media promotion with a transgender influencer.
In the summer of 2023, Target’s sales fell after coming in for criticism of its Gay Pride month merchandise displays.
But Walmart, which employs 1.6 million workers in the U.S., is the largest one to do so. The company typically tries to stay neutral on hot-button social issues to appeal to a broad spectrum of shoppers and workers.
‘This is the biggest win yet for our movement to end wokeness in corporate America,’ Starbuck wrote on X, adding that he had been in conversation with Walmart.
‘No retail company wants a story about them from us ahead of Black Friday,’ he said.
Walmart also agreed to stop using the terms ‘DEI’ and ‘Latinx’ in official communication.
Starbuck congratulated Walmart for its new direction.
‘I have to give their executives major credit because this will send shockwaves throughout corporate America. This is the biggest win yet for our movement to end wokeness in corporate America,’ he said while warning other corporate giants.
