I've seen people (courtesy clerks in particular) that have been very hard workers, never call in sick, always on time, come in on their days off to cover shifts...the perfect candidates for a promotion. Instead, they end up promoting the sassy, prima donna, Ms. Likes To Text Alot On The Clock. Just because she is attractive and flirty.
This is why sometimes I prefer a female manager over a male. But I bet this also happens everywhere else too not just Kroger.
Most of the department heads in my store are female (the only guy i can think of off the top of my head is the seafood manager actually) but most of the co-managers we get are white males so i'm not sure if you're right on this as a whole or not.