It
was 1993. I returned from maternity leave to my big bank employer and walked
into a firestorm. The bank was facing the single biggest case of gender
discrimination in this country until the David Jones saga would eclipse it
almost 20 years later. The Executive finally realised we needed to change the
culture of the bank. As a learning and development specialist, I put my hand up
to help. I hung out with clever people from Freehills, the bank's lawyers, and
attended courses on Anti-Discrimination Law. I studied unfair dismissals
legislation which had only just been introduced at federal level and no-one
knew how the Commission would apply it. And I devoured landmark cases as
determinations were handed down. Anyone from back then would remember the
infamous "flight attendant's case".
One landmark
case in the Federal Human Rights Commission would haunt me forever. Faatupunati
vs. Balaskas; a case so old, I can’t find a link to it. But it represented one
of the most horrific abuses of power I could recall that fell short of rape.
A
supervisor in a manufacturing company was found to have pressured an immigrant
single mother, a casual worker, to meet him at
the local motel and have sex with him or be taken off the work roster.
Mercifully, someone at work found out. Ms Faatupunati got an interpreter and
some advice. While the organisation Balaskas worked for could not find reliable
evidence of any wrongdoing when they investigated, it appears the Commission
found it easily enough. Of significance was the still rare view formed by the
Commissioner that the company could not reasonably have foreseen, much less
encouraged such behaviour and would not be held vicariously liable. The
supervisor himself was fined around $63,000, surely a pittance for the
magnitude of his reported abuse of trust and power.
How
might we compare and contrast this case with more contemporary #MeToo cases of
sexual harassment?
Not
all cases of sexual harassment are typified by the crass "grope and
hope" methodology though some are and these would probably constitute
sexual assault, not only sexual harassment. Most cases of sexual harassment
fall short of criminality. The stereotypical harasser drinks too much at
functions, losing inhibition and judgment. But in so many cases, the
oft-unreported cases, the really insidious, manipulative characters target
specific individuals - not necessarily because they’re ‘attractive’, but
because they’re single (with no-one at home to complain to), junior and/or new
to the business or the industry. The targets of these devious harassers are
often vulnerable. They’re longing for a break and/or short of money. The
harasser offers them a break, a job, a favour, an introduction, maybe even
special attention; attention which might be genuinely appreciated, at least for
a while. Accusations against Don Hazen of AlterNet exactly fit this profile.
Some targets may feel uncomfortable but may rationalise that it would be
ungracious to rebuff the senior partner in their silent power play. They may
find the initial attention or care flattering or endearing. They might be told,
yes, by women and even by family members that there is something sadly
inevitable about such behaviour; that it's "rife" in their industry,
that they shouldn't do anything to jeopardise their jobs because good jobs are
so hard to come by. And in the worst, most subversive and psychologically
abusive cases, targets may protest and be told they've misread the situation,
that they risk victimisation and isolation for making waves or that they must
surely have done something to encourage unwelcome attention. Let's ponder that.
How does one encourage uninvited attention that by definition must be unwelcome? Is that not the blackest con of all?
I've
spoken with many women and men since the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have
gathered momentum and the common but sometimes glib objection/suspicion is why
the victims (almost exclusively women) often take so long to speak up?
In
some cases they didn't even know the treatment they received and the way it
made them feel was sexual harassment, particularly in environments where
sexualised or gender-based behaviour was normalised. In some situations, even
if they realised they had been groomed as a forerunner to actual harassment,
they may have had no confidence a complaint would do any good and in many cases
had every reason to believe complaining would go
against them. And it is this fear of complaining and the lack of trust and
confidence employees may have in being heard and abuses acted upon that
probably serves to silence them (for a time or forever). Why do we hear too
often about these allegations as people are walking out the door?
But
for actual employers and the media, the sexualised nature of the conduct often
takes centre-stage and eclipses reflection and discussion on the contextual or systemic
factors that enable such behaviour to occur and often to continue. Many
manipulative, wilfully targeting perpetrators who are prepared to exploit a
sexist employer/employee imbalance of power are serial harassers.
While
Casual Friday, fresh fruit, bean bags and billiard tables might all be well
received, our biggest obligation to our people is to make them feel safe to
speak up and speak out, no matter where they sit on the org chart. The worst
harassers aren’t like the rest of us, that is, good people behaving badly. They
are predators.
Whilst
always assuring natural justice and resisting the overreaction, companies must
find the courage to dismiss perpetrators of serious harassment. This immediately cuts risk and recalibrates culture. It
is also worth noting that trial by media should not become the method by which
justice is served. Again, trust and confidence in the willingness of an
organisation's leadership to listen and investigate no matter how unpleasant or
inconvenient, is the best safeguard against targets and victims taking their
grievances and their trauma to be tried in the court of public opinion with the
Twitter-verse as their testimony.
A
disturbing short film that depicts this subversive dynamic stars David
Schwimmer (yes, from Friends) and can be found here.
No comments:
Post a Comment