Count me as one person not shedding too many tears about the death of Helen Walton, the matriarch of the Walton family–she of the $16 billion net worth. After all, this family, worth tens of billions of dollars, has made live a living hell for thousands of workers. And just in time to mourn dear Helen, we learn that the company’s own statistics show what a truly discriminatory workplace it runs. The following comes from WakeUpWalmart.com:

Today, Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private employer, released new diversity data which shows – once again- how far this company must go before it becomes a responsible employer. Even though 60.87 percent of  Wal-Mart*s Associates were women in 2006, only 39.69 percent of  Wal-Mart’s managers were women, up only 0.89% over last year. At this rate of change, it will take Wal-Mart another 11.9 years for women to make up at least 50 percent of the managers in the company.

Amongst minority workers, the percentage of workers in management compared to the total workforce is equally poor. For example, even though minority workers at Wal-Mart comprised 33.15 percent of Wal-Mart’s total work force, minorities comprised only 23.2 percent of its management. More specifically, even though African Americans comprise 17.50 percent of Wal-Mart*s workforce, African Americans represent only 11.39 percent of Wal-Mart*s management.

Again, based on Wal-Mart’s own EEOC data, and in terms of Wal-Mart’s management ranks, the percentages of women, African Americans, and Hispanics in Wal-Mart’s management are far below the percentage of women, African Americans, and Hispanics in their total workforce.

Amazing how oblivious rich people can be.