Sex at work

Have you ever had that experience when somebody is speaking and they are saying things that you know are true but that you have never been able to express anywhere near as articulately as they are doing?

That’s what happened for me when I was listening to Deeba Syed, who runs the Rights of Women helpline, talking on BBC Woman’s Hour. She gave a brilliant, articulate summary of the sexual harassment in the workplace issue, and why many women don’t report it and just decide to leave their job instead. As she says, people think ‘this is merely a fact of popping along to HR and explaining to them what happened and HR are going to fix it and make it all better’ but in reality ‘when women come forward to HR that is when the problems really begin for them.’

She is spot on and this is something I have seen far too many times. Virtually all of the women I have seen come forward to report sexual harassment have either ended up going quietly back into their shell, or leaving their job and facing legal action against an employer with more resources and better lawyers. From what I have seen, too many HR departments and companies have little appetite to try to displace senior, expensive harrassers and prefer to take the low risk of being challenged by a woman who probably cannot afford the legal fees she will face if she does so.

Yesterday I heard a story about a woman who was sexually harassed, forced out of her company and hired a lawyer to fight her case (giving up her apartment to fund this). The good news is that she won, but she could have lost everything - how many women are ready and able to take that chance?

This is another issue we don’t talk about enough, another thing that women accept as ‘shit but just the way things are’. We need to stop accepting and allowing these things - when they happen to us and when they are happening to someone else.

And if HR departments are not there to protect human beings in their organization, then they really need to be given a new name.