Walmart Inc. has noplans to change its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives despite pushback against such efforts that has seeped into the corporate world over the past year.

In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in higher education, Walmart and other large publicly traded retailers have had to take a hard look at their diversity and inclusion policies and reports.

Conservative groups continue pressuring them to modify or drop such efforts altogether, placing businesses in a position in which they risk drawing the ire of customers on both sides of the political spectrum.

“We want everyone to feel they belong whether shopping in or working in our stores, clubs and offices,” Walmart said in a statement.

Toward this end, the company publishes a Belonging, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion report that contains such statistics as the numbers of women and people of color in management and officer roles, and

the latest measures Walmart has taken to support a diverse and inclusive culture.

The Bentonville-based retailer’s most recent report was released in April, and the company plans to publish a midyear report in September.

As an example of the information included in the report, Walmart said in April that it has the highest number of women and people of color in U.S. officer positions since at least 2021. The company also said the number of female officers globally is steadily increasing.

Walmart began reporting this information soon after the May 2020 murder of George Floyd.

In June 2020, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation created the Walmart.org Center for Racial Equity. The center’s initiatives fund research, advocacy, innovation of practices and tools, and other efforts with a “particular focus on eradicating systemic disparities experienced by Black and African American communities in the United States.”

The center’s efforts are concentrated in four areas: finance, health, education and criminal justice.

Some retailers, though, have handled controversial diversity matters differently.

Tractor Supply Inc. said on Friday that it’s ending all its diversity and inclusion measures, as well as its initiative to reduce carbon emissions.

The chain that sells farming and ranching equipment and clothing locates its stores mainly in rural areas.

“We work hard to live up to our mission and values every day and represent the values of the communities and customers we serve,” Tractor Supply said in a news release.

“We have heard from customers that we have disappointed them,” the 85-yearold company said. “We have taken this feedback to heart.”

“To ensure our activities and giving tie directly to our business,” Tractor Supply said it will cut its jobs related to diversity, equity and inclusion and “retire” its goals in those areas “while still ensuring a respectful environment.”

The chain did not say how many positions will be eliminated. It employs about 50,000 people across its 2,250 stores nationwide.

In addition, the company said it will “focus on rural America priorities … and stop sponsoring non-business activities like Pride festivals and voting campaigns.”

This includes no longer supplying employment data to the Human Rights Campaign, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit LGBTQ advocacy groups.

Tractor Supply will also “withdraw” its carbon emission goals and focus on land and water conservation.

Responses criticizing Tractor Supply’s announcement included a statement from Eric Bloem, the Human Rights Campaign’s vice president of programs and corporate advocacy.

“LGBTQ+ people live in every ZIP code in the country, including rural communities,” Bloem said. “We are shoppers, farmers, veterans and agriculture students.”

“Caving to far-right extremists is only going to hurt the same folks that these businesses rely on,” Bloem said.

One year ago, Target Corp. faced a virulent and sometimes violent backlash from conservatives for its Pride Month collection and store displays, which it then moved to a less prominent location in its stores.

This year, the big-box retailer limited the number of stores carrying its Pridethemed collection, drawing criticism from the LGBTQ community.

Walmart files a government report each year called the EEO-1 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The report discloses the previous year’s gender, racial and ethnic composition of Walmart’s U.S. workforce.

That data is posted annually on Walmart’s corporate website.

Walmart employs about 1.6 million workers in the U.S.

In the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index for 2023-2024, Walmart received the Equality 100 Award. That means the company scored all available points on four criteria: workforce protections; inclusive benefits; internal training and inclusive culture; and corporate social responsibility.

In a June 2023 “progress report” that was updated last month, Forbes spotlighted Walmart and 10 other large public companies that responded to a survey regarding steps they have taken to make their workforce, marketing and suppliers more diverse.

These 11 were the only companies to respond out of the 50 surveyed.

Regarding its workforce, Walmart said the percentage of non-white employees rose from 42% in 2015 to 48%. At the management level, it reported the percentage of non-white employees rose from 31% to 41%, and at the executive level, the percentage of non-white officers rose from 22% to 28%.

As far as marketing, Walmart set a goal in 2021 to allocate 4% of its ad dollars to minority-owned publishers, platforms and media companies. The company said it reached that goal in fiscal 2023.

And while the company tracks total spending with U.S.-based, minority-owned businesses and suppliers, Walmart didn’t tell Forbes whether goals have been established to increase the percentage spent.

However, Walmart said it bought more than $13 billion worth of goods and services from diverse suppliers “as of May 2023.”