It has been a while since I have thought about how much or how long sexual harassment has gone on in the workforce. The reason is simple. I haven’t had to work through harassment issues in a long time. It happens to most women during their career, even if they don’t realize it. So the question remains, did I imagine getting harassed? Is there a glass ceiling and is harassment part of the construct that maintains that glass ceiling? You bet there is and it does!

It isn’t something new nor has it been adequately addressed for decades. I find incredibly disturbing that it is allowed to continue after all of this time. Even those women who have “broken” through will tell you it wasn’t easy.

The cause of these issues are typically the “old white men” in traditional companies that haven’t realized time has passed them by. They haven’t had to learn anything about management theory and how it is subordinates that make them successful. If they are successful (meaning continually increasing shareholder value), the company just leaves them alone. Worst of all, they can pass it on to the next generation by their own miserable example. Financial success within the organization almost lets them get away with anything.

It is interesting to note, the newer high profile companies started by younger men and women don’t appear to suffer from the same issue. We do see those companies recognizing the value of diversity and maximizing people’s value rather than the “old boy” network (such as Sheryl Sandberg (COO) at Facebook or Ruth Porat (CFO) at Alphabet.) Even better are the successes in the number of companies started by women such as S’well, Pinnacle Group, or Orangetheory Fitness, to name a few.

Recently, we read and heard that Ivanka Trump would “just be too strong” to be harassed. We all know that isn’t true. Her own father is disturbing when he says “Yeah, she’s really something, and what a beauty, that one. If I weren’t happily married and, ya know, her father.” That is unbelievable abuse but we didn’t see her comment on it. I know I was horrified but why aren’t all women? Worse than that, why wasn’t she?

The recent complaints from the women at Fox News is simply a symptom of a larger situation where a powerful individual feels it is his “right” to harass young women because of his position. Worse than that, other women refuse to acknowledge the truth. Here are reasons why women are afraid to take a stand:

• afraid of retribution
• afraid they will lose their own job
• think it is a part of the job and just let it go
• succeed at all costs so “the hell with it,” I will just go along and not say a word

 

Sexual harassment is not mutual and is unwelcome. It is rude, demeaning behavior and is usually about the abuse of power. It can psychologically hurt the women involved and poison the work atmosphere. According to the National Council for Research on Women, women are 9 times more likely than men to quit their jobs, 5 times more likely to transfer, and 3 times more likely to lose jobs because of harassment.[1]

Sexual harassment was recognized as an issue many years ago and, in fact, is covered under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act . Some of the most recognized forms of sexual harassment are:

• Direct sexual advances or propositions, including higher-ranked employees asking for sexual favors.
• Intimidating or excluding women employees to jeopardize their employment status.
• Creating a hostile workplace for women by using sexist jokes, remarks, or pinning up sexually explicit or pornographic photos.

I thought I would take up the mantle of this discussion because many of us who were working in the 1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s and on until now experienced this situation more than once in our career. At the time, human resources was not helpful even if the various situations were documented. Their marching orders were to keep everything quiet and protect the senior manager.

When the senior manager was from an international background where they have institutionalized harassment, it was even more difficult for human resources or subordinate managers to do anything to help each other within the organization. As a result, women who wanted to climb the ladder would go along smoking cigars to show they were one of the boys, go to sleazy bars to show they were part of the gang, or just gossip about others that wouldn’t go along with bad behaviors.

In a couple of personal instances, I had to go to “strip bars” with my manager and other sales people (no women) to show I was “part of the team”. It was incredibly demeaning. To add insult to injury, that particular manager enjoyed the discomfort he was inflicting. At the same time, he was having an affair with another married woman in the company.

In another instance, a fairly senior manager at a pharmaceutical company liked to “hug and kiss” women managers or any women. When the issue was brought up to human resources, and it was, nothing was done. Of course, this was in 1978 and no one cared about harassment. In fact, at the time, women were relegated to lower level positions except in select “jobs” such as nursing, research associates, secretaries, human resources, market research, medical technologists, low level marketing, and some sales (as long as they looked good).

Promotion was only given because we had to be much, much better, stronger, and more knowledgeable than men in what we did and it had to be proven over and over again. We had to challenge the system. In return, when we were only one female in the room, we “had to take notes.”

Then, of course, there were instances of male managers telling women to “smile” so you can get along with others. In my experience, I never heard anyone tell a man to smile especially when the subject was a serious one. I wonder if that still goes on but I suspect it does. For whatever reason, men thought women should just smile and keep be quiet.

There are examples where senior managers would only hire “pretty” women as marketing or sales people. Qualifications were secondary. If you were unable to spell or use the correct grammar when giving a presentation, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was how beautiful the individual was, how well they “went along,” and said nothing.

There are lots of other instances where women had to do more to show they were “part of the team” or the choice was to leave a well-paying position. It wasn’t a matter of being strong, it was a matter of the senior manager’s ability to get away with anything, legally, I might add. Even worse, the women who were senior managers knew this went on and just ignored it to save their own jobs. They, too, could have be more supportive but chose to let it go.

In truth, women are not as supportive as they should be towards other women. One would think senior women would help the younger ones in their career but many don’t become mentors. The reason is simple; they may feel threatened or are jealous. They had to fight for their position so why make it “easy” for the next generation. Today, there are mandatory courses in sexual harassment but the rules still protect the senior managers not their subordinates.

Just recently, the American Bar Association finally adopted rules about sexual harassment. The important words here are just recently. The article was in the Washington Post on July 18, 2016! All of this time, it was okay to harass a partner, associate, or admin in a law practice because “We can’t tell an equity partner, our largest rainmaker, that he has to leave or be suspended for bad behavior.”

That is the kind of system that allows a “Roger Ailes” to still exist until they aren’t protected anymore. Many times it is the harassed individuals that suffers at their hands simply because they complained about sexual abuse. Yes, women continue to be fired, reorganized out of a job, or have their contract not renewed because the system still isn’t working for them.

It isn’t new, it isn’t different than it was so many years ago, but now is the time to change. Take some advice from the “new” successful companies where women are part of the fabric of the company. Make sure complaints are handled seriously. The laws are in place. If a senior manager needs to be disciplined because of harassment, it is time to do just that. We cannot allow abusers to continue to flourish in 2016 and beyond. It is time for women (all of them) to stand up and talk about their experiences and not have to worry about losing a position because of embarrassment.

What other things can be done? For starters, Human Resources, in partnership with some women managers and subordinates, could start committees to review harassment rules and adopt better rules for everyone in the company. Additionally, the CEO, President, or Head of the companies or firms have to realize it is really time to set the tone for harassment of any individual. Only then, will these individuals learn they have to control themselves and make the workplaces be all they can be.

[1] Feminist Majority Foundation Sexual Harassment Fact Sheet