Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, will phase out several diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in its workplaces, as far-right conservatives continue take aim at such programs.
Among several sweeping changes, the company will no longer consider race and gender as a means to improve diversity when making offers to suppliers, several outlets reported.
“Our purpose, to help people save money and live better, has been at our core since our founding 62 years ago and continues to guide us today. We can deliver on it because we are willing to change alongside our associates and customers who represent all of America. We’ve been on a journey and know we aren’t perfect, but every decision comes from a place of wanting to foster a sense of belonging, to open doors to opportunities for all our associates, customers and suppliers and to be a Walmart for everyone,” the company said in a statement to the Guardian.
Walmart will no longer offer DEI trainings through the Racial Equity Institute, a consultant firm specializing in improving corporate diversity and equity, the Washington Post reported.
The company will also not be renewing a racial equity center that it established through a five-year commitment to “address the root causes of gaps in outcomes experienced by Black and African American people in education, health, finance and criminal justice systems”, according to Walmart’s website.
The multinational corporation will also be removing LGBTQ+ merchandise from its stores, CNBC reported.
The decision to discontinue DEI efforts at Walmart was first announced by the conservative pundit Robby Starbuck, who continued to attack DEI efforts as apart of an ongoing campaign.
Starbuck claimed: “Walmart is ending their woke policies,” in a post to X.
“Last week I told execs at [Walmart] that I was doing a story on wokeness there. Instead we had productive conversations to find solutions,” Starbuck said, before listing several of the DEI initiatives Walmart is ending.
Walmart, which employs approximately 1.6 million US workers, is only the latest company to end its DEI programs in recent months. Lowe’s, Harley-Davidson and Ford Motor Company have all scaled back their DEI programming.
DEI programs have long been under scrutiny, but conservatives have escalated attacks on such initiatives following Donald Trump’s win during the 2024 US presidential election.
Corporate companies have also continued to rollback their diversity initiatives since the US supreme court ended affirmative action for university admissions in June 2023, a major blow to inclusion efforts.
