How Can Shoppers Market Create an Inclusive Environment for Women of Color?

Ashima Patel, senior vice president at global retailer Shoppers Market has made progress but needs to do more, especially regarding the decreasing representation of women of color in the company.

Shoppers Market was facing a challenge that most of corporate America was grappling with: a lack of improvement in representation for women of color. Though women of color represented about one in four U.S. employees at Shoppers Market in mid-year 2021, they made up just 4.3% of people at the officer level—people with president or vice president in their titles. Despite an increase in hiring, the representation of women of color at Shoppers Market had declined by 8% overall, and by 33% in leadership positions, over the last five years.

Students will explore the challenges facing women of color in the workplace and develop a multi-disciplinary, integrated strategy to address the reasons underlying their small representation in leadership.

• Understand the current state of representation for women of color in corporate America.
• Examine the potential issues and barriers facing women of color that impact their workplace progression.
• Evaluate the role of leadership, policies, and practices within companies that can help diminish these barriers.
• Devise potential solutions to address these barriers by applying an understanding of intersectionality and its impact in the workplace.
• Tailor solutions to address the immediate issues facing Shoppers Market and develop a strategy to help Shoppers Market (and similar real companies) implement these solutions.