Producing Change or Bagging Opportunity? The Effects of Discrimination Litigation on Women in Supermarket Management

Abstract

Despite women’s advancement in the workplace over the past 40 years, their representation in top‐level positions remains disproportionately low relative to that of men. This raises the question of what factors drive greater gender equality in managerial ranks. Using national equal employment opportunity (EEO‐1) data for the supermarket industry, this article proposes that high‐profile sex discrimination lawsuit filings provide the type of intense pressure that leads to increased female managerial representation. Results from fixed‐effects models demonstrate the significance of litigation in the short and long run, especially for women employed by supermarkets located in the most progressive U.S. appellate court jurisdictions. The findings also provide support for a normative effect on change based on regional variation in public orientation toward gender equality.