Preventing and ending sexual harassment in the workplace.pptx

What does it take to end sexual harassment in the workplace, which has not budget in decades? According to a May-June 2020 Forbes article by Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kavin, compliance-based training has backfired and resulted in men feeling targeted as vilains, men becoming more accepting of sexual harassment, blaming women more and a reduction in women in senior jobs. Article here: https://hbr.org/2020/05/why-sexual-harassment-programs-backfire Another strong advocate for more effective training in this area is Felicity Menzies, who authored this excellent piece: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/respect-work-your-sexual-harassment-training-fit-purpose-menzies-bthjc/?trackingId=T2SpuZslT1iwREb%2FCySO4g%3D%3D Another resource I used for this talk is the excellent UN Women Report (2019): What will it take? Promoting cultural change to end sexual harassment. I wish to thank UN Women for including me in its Feminist Think Space in New York in July 2018, where global leaders in the effort to end sexual harassment met, including Dr Catharine MacKinnon. I also drew on statistics from the World Bank's Women, Business and the Law in this presentation: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2024/03/04/new-data-show-massive-wider-than-expected-global-gender-gap

1. What will it take? Preventing and ending sexual harassment at the workplace Tina Tinde “Women in Sight” webinar, 24 April 2024

2. AFRICAN UNION CONVENTION ON ENDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS Agreement in November 2023 to develop a convention

3. PROMOTING A shared commitment to equality and respect in the workplace ; identifying power dynamics, watching for patterns of abuse and addressing inequality Shared ethical standards and ambitions Open and known accountability of all Safe and supportive environment

4. ENDING X Sexualised work environments - jokes, banter, innuendoes, sexually judgemental comments X Sexual aggression – touching, unwelcome attention, indecent exposure, sexual exploitation, abuse, assault, rape X Sexual and gender discrimination – unequal treatment of women, minorities including those with disabilities and LGBT+ people

5. CULTURE CHANGE “ Sexual abuse is driven by cultures that permit, even encourage, it. It will end with cultures that no longer consider it normal and trivial, even ennobling. ” Catharine MacKinnon

6. TRAINING TRAPS Most evaluations show limited impact of training and note that typical train g consisted of a 30 - minute presentation or a 2.5 - hour course with minimal interaction. Research shows that harassment training makes men more likely to blame the victims. M en who are inclined to harass women before training actually become more accepting of such behavior after training.

7. TRAINING TRAPS F ocusing on prohibition, policy and procedure misses the mark, failing to address equality and respect, additionally failing to change the culture. Research found that when companies create forbidden-behavior training programs, the representation of women in management drops by more than 5% over the following few years.

8. RECOMMENDED TRAINING Bystander-intervention training : T he assumption that trainees are allies working to solve the problems of harassment and assault rather than potential perp etrators . “If you see something, say (or do) something” approach.

9. RECOMMENDED TRAINING Manager training: C ompanies that adopted distinct manager-training programs saw significant gains in the percentage of women in their managerial ranks, with (in the US, 2020) white women rising by more than 6%, African American and Asian American women by 5%, and Latinas by 2%.

10. RECOMMENDED TRAINING Present a range of options for action other than formal reporting – collective ownership of change, first responder options, support for victims, questioning the behaviour of perpetrators. Role plays are often useful in practicing different ways of acting, especially if time is taken to explore what it felt like for the intervener, for the victim-survivor and for the perpetrator.

11. BYSTANDER INTERVENTION

12. ADVOCACY

13. GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES GONE WRONG P rocedures were first cooked up by lawyers to intercept victims who were planning to sue, and then were adapted to protect companies against suits by the accused. Procedures have not improved the situation for women, who dec li ned in numbers after reporting mechanisms were introduced.

14. GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES GONE WRONG

15. GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES GONE WRONG W hy do those procedures backfire? R etaliation against victims who complain . One survey of US federal workers found that two-thirds of women who had reported their harassers were subsequently assaulted, taunted, demoted, or fired by their harassers or friends of their harassers .

16. GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES GONE WRONG R etaliation has long-term effects. Women who file harassment complaints end up, on average, in worse jobs and poorer physical and mental health than do women who keep quiet . R etaliation may be the only thing many victims get after filing a grievance, because most procedures protect the accused better than they protect victims.

17. GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES GONE WRONG Another part of the problem is evidentiary rules. Many companies use the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard to determine guilt, not the lower “preponderance of evidence” standard that the courts use for harassment claims. That makes it nearly impossible to prove guilt without a confession or a witness. Even if the accused is found guilty, confidentiality generally applies to the ruling, and thus word doesn’t get out that, say, women should steer clear of Jerry.

18. A LTERNATIVE C OMPLAINT S YSTEMS Ombudsperson Massachus et ts Institute of technology set up an ombuds office in 1973. Received over 500 complaints per year by the early 1980s. M ore than 90% of those who took their claims to the office wanted an informal, confidential process; 75% worried that a formal complaint would bring reprisal, rejection, or the silent treatment from their bosses, coworkers, or even their own families, and said they didn’t want their harassers punished—they just wanted the problem to stop.

19. A LTERNATIVE C OMPLAINT S YSTEMS Voluntary dispute resolution A n alternative that falls somewhere between a formal grievance procedure and an ombuds office . M ediators hear claims, notify the accused, and try to find solutions that satisfy both sides . Professional mediators or trained employees may do the job. In the US Postal Service, over 90% were satisfied with their mediator’s impartiality and with how they were treated during the process, and at least 60% were satisfied with the outcome .

20. A LTERNATIVE C OMPLAINT S YSTEMS M andatory arbitration (TO BE AVOIDED) A ll current employees and new hires are required to sign away the right to sue for any employment-related dispute, including claims of harassment . In exchange they are promised that any claim they file will be turned over for independent review to an external arbitrator who will hear both sides of the dispute and render a binding decision. If victims feel that arbitration isn’t working, they have no recourse to a formal grievance system.

21. W HAT TO DO? Train-the-trainer programs Anti-harassment task forces Published numbers

22. THANK YOU