Walmart (WMT) is getting in touch with its feminine side. The mammoth retailer is cutting the machismo and embarking on initiatives supporting women workers and female-owned businesses. 
 
 
 
 Walmart's plans include supporting training programs for women in its suppliers' factories and farms, and donating $100 million to entities that aid female-focused economic development. 
 
 
 
 An even larger initiative is the company's five-year plan to spend $20 billion on products from U.S. women-owned businesses. This is a significant increase from the annual $2.5 billion it currently directs to that area. 
 
 
 
 Should Females Feel Fortunate or Fearful? 
 
 
 
 This could be a huge opportunity for some female-run businesses. Walmart's giant footprint makes it a coveted, powerful partner for suppliers. But that power can be destructive, too. 
 
 
 
 In the mid-1990s, Walmart basically ruined Rubbermaid by giving more shelf space to rivals. The result was a forced marriage for Rubbermaid, which yielded Newell-Rubbermaid (NWL). 
 
 
 
 Right now, Wal-Mart doesn't need any more bad press. This initiative -- while positive -- does seem suspiciously like the metaphorical equivalent of bestowing the sparkling Tiffany (TIF) diamond to say "I'm sorry" after the beat-down. 
 
 
 
 Walmart's Way of Dealing with Women Troubles? 
 
 
 
 Walmart denies that its female-centric moves have anything to do with that public relations debacle, but it's difficult to buy that. 
 
 The company has been grappling with allegations that it discriminated against female employees at stores across the country. The Supreme Court dismissed the potential for a massive (and massively expensive) class action lawsuit earlier this year, but individual gender discrimination claims are still on the table for Walmart.Whether Walmart's plans will lead women to truly trust the retailer's good intentions is questionable; public relations damage control doesn't generally come across as genuine.Regardless, Walmart's a massive, ubiquitous, and highly influential retailer that can make or break products, and its plans could help many women achieve more successful businesses and careers. Public outrage, not to mention threats of legal action, can bring about progress. However, that doesn't mean women shouldn't watch their charming new suitor's behavior carefully.Motley Fool analyst Alyce Lomax does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Wal-Mart Stores. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of and creating a diagonal call position on Wal-Mart. ||||| Wal-Mart is slated to announce Wednesday that it will spend billions of dollars over the next five years to train female workers around the world and support women-owned businesses, the latest attempt by the world’s largest retailer to tackle broad social issues and shore up its image. 
 
 The commitment includes $100 million in grants to non­profit groups focused on developing job skills for low-income women in the United States and for women who work in the overseas farms and factories that Wal-Mart relies on for its merchandise. It also said it will spend $20 billion over the next five years to buy goods from the nation’s women-owned businesses, double its current amount. 
 
 “We have looked kind of systematically in the places our business can make a difference, that will make us a stronger business and will also help our customers and our communities,” said Leslie Dach, head of corporate affairs at Wal-Mart. “This is clearly right there in that sweet spot.” 
 
 Most of the 200 million customers who shop at Wal-Mart each week are female, and like at many retailers, executives refer to shoppers in their stores as “she.” More than half of its 2 million employees are women, and Dach said that the initiative will help the company recruit and attract better workers. 
 
 Wal-Mart has been criticized for its treatment of women. For years, it was embroiled in a massive sex-discrimination lawsuit that alleged that the company paid women less than their male counterparts and passed them over for promotions. This summer, the Supreme Court blocked the case from receiving class-action status, and attorneys for the women involved said they plan to file individual complaints. 
 
 Dach said that Wednesday’s initiative has been in the works for about a year and is not related to the suit. 
 
 The company has launched similar sweeping programs in recent years centered on issues for which it had been vilified. It tempered complaints that its big-box stores and penny-pinching prices helped drive suburban sprawl and pollution from its overseas suppliers with ambitious promises to recycle and reduce its carbon footprint. 
 
 Wal-Mart scored a major coup early this year when it teamed up with first lady Michelle Obama on a program to reduce sodium and sugar in the food it sells — and followed up a few months later with a plan to open hundreds of stores in urban areas, where labor unions and other groups have long opposed its entry. 
 
 For the women’s initiative, Wal-Mart worked with Melanne Verveer, U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues and former chief of staff for Hillary Rodham Clinton when she was first lady. Verveer is slated to speak Friday at a breakfast sponsored by Wal-Mart at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in San Francisco. In a statement, she called the retailer’s move a “bold step forward.” 
 
 “Together, we will see these women change the lives of their families and communities for the better,” she said. 
 
 The program will also require suppliers with more than $1 billion in sales to increase the percentage of women and minorities on their Wal-Mart accounts. In addition, it vowed to double its purchases from female suppliers internationally. 
 
 Helene Gayle, chief executive of the humanitarian group CARE USA, said her organization began working with Wal-Mart in 2009 on a program for women working in garment factories in Bangladesh and cashew farms in India for the retailers’ suppliers. Gayle said working with Wal-Mart was appealing because its mammoth size means it has an outsized impact. 
 
 “As such a huge industry leader, what they do hopefully will help to shape what others do in the field,” she said.
– Walmart may have some serious image problems in how it treats women, but the business behemoth is throwing around some serious money that could help change that. Under a new initiative announced today, it pledges to spend $20 billion over the next five years to buy products from women-owned businesses in the US, double its current amount, reports the Washington Post. It also promises to train and educate low-income women here and abroad, notes Reuters. The move comes just months after the Supreme Court threw out a massive class-action lawsuit brought by female employees against the company, though Walmart says its new plan has nothing to do with the case. Maybe, writes Alyce Lomax at Daily Finance. But "this initiative—while positive—does seem suspiciously like the metaphorical equivalent of bestowing the sparkling Tiffany diamond to say 'I'm sorry' after the beat-down." Regardless of motive, however, it "could help many women achieve more successful businesses and careers," she writes.