LABOUR LAW REFORMERS who pray for tough worker protection, especially for women may soon have their prayers answered.
That would happen if the Freundel Stuart Administration introduces and guides sexual harassment legislation through parliament designed to impose penalties on firms and their managers, supervisors and others on the job, who believe they have a right to demand a quid pro quo – sex for a raise, promotion or employment itself.
As Senator Dr. Esther Byer-Suckoo, Minister of Labour noted at the recent Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) 75th annual delegates conference, sexual harassment and anti-discrimination legislation would soon be introduced in parliament.
Should that proposed legislative labour reform see the light of day, many people would sing hallelujah. Of course, that’s provided the measure is comprehensive and makes sense.
“I don’t know how widespread it is in Barbados but there is no doubt that acts of sexual harassment do take place,” said Evelyn Greaves, a former cabinet minister and a retired top Barbados diplomat in Canada.
“Based on the minister’s statement it does appear that a series of labour reforms would be coming forward. It would be useful. A lot of discriminatory practices in the workplace should be eliminated. Some kind of protection should be offered to people, particularly women. I have no doubt there is sexual harassment directed at men as well and that’s something which should be covered.”
Greaves, a former senior BWU executive who also represented St Lucy in the House of Assembly for years, and remains widely respected for his principled stance on national and international issues, said that in a small society like Barbados employees are often reluctant to step forward about harassment, fearing they would lose their jobs or denied promotions if they complain.
“That’s why protection is necessary and why the legislation is needed,” said Greaves.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) to which Barbados belongs defines sexual harassment as “sex-based behaviour that is unwelcome and offensive to its recipient”. And two things must be present. The first is a link between a pay raise, a promotion or even continued employment and a demand for sexual favours. Secondly, there must be a “hostile environment in which the conduct creates conditions that are intimidating or humiliating to the victim,” according to the ILO.
The behaviour can run the gamut from physical and verbal to “non-verbal” actions. For instance, threats of physical violence, touching and “unnecessary close proximity” are among the physical acts. The verbal run the gamut from comments and questions about appearances, lifestyle and sexual orientation to offensive phone calls. The “non-verbal” can take the form of whistling, sexually suggestive gestures and displays of sexual materials.
The extent of the problem in Barbados may be unknown but that’s not the case in several countries. For example, 40 to 50 per cent of women in Europe have complained about some form of sexual harassment. In Italy, more than 55 per cent of women between the ages of 14 to 59 said they were victims of sexual harassment; one of every three females were subjected to sexual intimidation for career advancement while 65 per cent were blackmailed by the same harasser, often a co-worker or supervisors.
Many of them just quit the jobs because of it. When Hong Kong studied the nightmare, 25 per cent of workers acknowledged they had suffered at the hands of harassers, a third of them men. Interestingly, only 6.6 per cent of the men bothered to report it, compared with 20 per cent of the women.
Australia’s Equal Opportunity Commission reported some time ago that 18 per cent of 18-64-year-old workers had to confront sexual harassment and almost two thirds were physically abused but only 37 per cent were likely to complain.
As for the likely victims, young, financially dependent, single or divorced women as well as immigrants headed the list. When it came to men, they tended to be young, gay or members of ethnic and racial minorities, including blacks. They were the “most vulnerable,” the ILO said.
Interestingly, “sexual harassment between people of the same sex is a recent but growing trend,” the organisation noted.
In the United States (US) where top executives are routinely fired for sexually harassing employees or firms are ordered to pay victims large sums of money, Roger Ailes, the former Fox News chairman was unceremoniously ousted from his powerful position after Gretchen Carlson, a Fox News host, sued the influential television network for sexual harassment. She insisted that Ailes had propositioned her several times.
“I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago,” she alleged Ailes told her. Another former Fox News host, Andrea Tantaros, also complained that Ailes asked her to turn around so he could get a good look.
Fox fired Ailes and reportedly gave him a US$40 million-plus exit package. He is now advising Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee on how to prepare for the upcoming television debates with Democratic standard bearer, Hillary Clinton.
In Indonesia, supervisors and managers can get into trouble for engaging in “gestural harassment.” That’s defined as using sexually suggestive language which involves comments about a person’s body parts, such as the size of the breasts or lips, the beauty of the rearend or repeated winks, licking the lips and gesturing with fingers.
The US Equal Opportunity Commission in Washington has added some interesting examples of harassment. Among them: propositioning people of the same sex. A co-worker, supervisor or even a “non-employee” of an agency or private firm can be held accountable for unwelcome sexual misconduct.
“The victim does not have to be the person harassed,” but could be anyone affected by the offensive conduct.”
“People have to be careful with what they say and do,” said Greaves, “A lot of loose behaviour can go on and is tolerated and if there is no proper appreciation of how people feel about these things they will continue. If you have legislation, obviously supervisors, managers and indeed the entire workforce must be trained so that practices would no longer be found acceptable.”
Clearly, Byer-Suckoo must study the proposed sexual harassment bill long and hard before introducing it into parliament because of the changing values of society. What’s needed is a comprehensive measure without obvious loopholes.
