Women are still belittled, yelled at, groped, grabbed, made butts of jokes and targeted for unwanted attention: University of Toronto study
One doesn’t hear much of it these days, but women are still getting harassed at work and they’re still putting up with it for fear of retaliation.
That’s according to University of Toronto sociologist Sandy Welsh, co-author of a four-year study, Workplace Harassment and Violence Report. The study, via some chilling personal accounts from victims, showed how some women are still belittled, yelled at, groped, grabbed, made butts of jokes and targeted for unwanted attention.
As a qualitative study into the problem, the study was silent on the prevalence of sexual harassment. It was also mute on the likelihood of women reporting their harassment either internally or externally. At the Ontario Human Rights Commission, sexual harassment complaints accounted for 10 per cent of all complaints in the financial year of 2003-2004. Most of these harassment complaints related to workplace harassment, said a commission spokesperson.
The report was particularly disturbing when it recounted the ways women coped with the harassment. One woman knew that she could go to the human rights commission, but had to weigh that against making herself “a laughing stock.” Another observed that, as a francophone residing in rural Ontario, she simply wouldn’t be able to find similar work elsewhere.
Even more disturbing were accounts of what happened to some women after they accessed available reporting channels.
One woman who stepped forward and complained about her supervisor making sexual advances found that although the supervisor was reprimanded, she was cast as someone who received special treatment. Reporting exposed her to so much stress that she withdrew that first complaint.
During a second complaint, filed two weeks later through a union representative, the same woman found herself and the union rep sitting across from the aggressor with the HR person by his side. “I felt very uncomfortable,” she told the researcher. The union rep, the harasser and the HR person would go out to the hall, whisper among themselves and come back in. At one point, the union rep went to get refreshment, leaving the complainant alone with the harasser and the HR person.
“When my rep got back I said, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore,’” the woman recounted to the researcher. “‘And he said, ‘You want me to tear this up, then?’ I was so upset at the time. I couldn’t handle anymore. I just wanted to go home and get out of there. I said, ‘Yes, I don’t care anymore. I just want to go home. I quit.’”
Welsh said the experiences of the women in the study illustrate how well-meaning policies aren’t enough.
“It’s clear that more work needs to be done because the policies that are in place aren’t doing what they should be doing, which is being clear, make it easy to report, not take up a lot of time, and lead to reasonable remedies,” said Welsh, who worked on the project with Jacquie Carr, Audrey Huntley and Barbara MacQuarrie of the Centre for Research on Violence Against Women and Children at the University of Western Ontario.
“There are a lot of consultants out there saying, do this or do that, but nobody has really studied what companies are being told to do is really working. It would be great to go into a workplace and ask people, ‘How many people wanted to report?’ and ‘Did you?’ and ‘If you didn’t, then why?’ And also look at it from the person who’s running that office to say, ‘What problems do you see?’”
Welsh acknowledged the common perception that workplaces addressed sexual harassment in the 1990s, and that bullying or psychological harassment is what’s prevalent today.
“I think it’s partly driven by the attention that’s focused on it. And part of the reason we wanted to do our report is to draw attention to the fact that sexual harassment is still around,” said Welsh.
“It’s just not the kind of thing that the media is biting right now, and it’s also not the thing that consultants are focusing on. The money right now is on bullying. It’s a semi-cynical view, you might say.”
Glenn French, president and CEO of Canadian Initiative on Workplace Violence, said the study shows that “we are light years away from being able to really define harassment, in terms of ensuring that people have redress and can be protected from this kind of behaviour. We’ve got a long way to go.”
Asked for recommendations, the 12 focus groups and 17 women interviewed in the study named support as the thing they needed the most.
One woman said “Sometimes it is just nice to know that someone believes you.” Others said they could use better access to legal advice.
That’s according to University of Toronto sociologist Sandy Welsh, co-author of a four-year study, Workplace Harassment and Violence Report. The study, via some chilling personal accounts from victims, showed how some women are still belittled, yelled at, groped, grabbed, made butts of jokes and targeted for unwanted attention.
As a qualitative study into the problem, the study was silent on the prevalence of sexual harassment. It was also mute on the likelihood of women reporting their harassment either internally or externally. At the Ontario Human Rights Commission, sexual harassment complaints accounted for 10 per cent of all complaints in the financial year of 2003-2004. Most of these harassment complaints related to workplace harassment, said a commission spokesperson.
The report was particularly disturbing when it recounted the ways women coped with the harassment. One woman knew that she could go to the human rights commission, but had to weigh that against making herself “a laughing stock.” Another observed that, as a francophone residing in rural Ontario, she simply wouldn’t be able to find similar work elsewhere.
Even more disturbing were accounts of what happened to some women after they accessed available reporting channels.
One woman who stepped forward and complained about her supervisor making sexual advances found that although the supervisor was reprimanded, she was cast as someone who received special treatment. Reporting exposed her to so much stress that she withdrew that first complaint.
During a second complaint, filed two weeks later through a union representative, the same woman found herself and the union rep sitting across from the aggressor with the HR person by his side. “I felt very uncomfortable,” she told the researcher. The union rep, the harasser and the HR person would go out to the hall, whisper among themselves and come back in. At one point, the union rep went to get refreshment, leaving the complainant alone with the harasser and the HR person.
“When my rep got back I said, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore,’” the woman recounted to the researcher. “‘And he said, ‘You want me to tear this up, then?’ I was so upset at the time. I couldn’t handle anymore. I just wanted to go home and get out of there. I said, ‘Yes, I don’t care anymore. I just want to go home. I quit.’”
Welsh said the experiences of the women in the study illustrate how well-meaning policies aren’t enough.
“It’s clear that more work needs to be done because the policies that are in place aren’t doing what they should be doing, which is being clear, make it easy to report, not take up a lot of time, and lead to reasonable remedies,” said Welsh, who worked on the project with Jacquie Carr, Audrey Huntley and Barbara MacQuarrie of the Centre for Research on Violence Against Women and Children at the University of Western Ontario.
“There are a lot of consultants out there saying, do this or do that, but nobody has really studied what companies are being told to do is really working. It would be great to go into a workplace and ask people, ‘How many people wanted to report?’ and ‘Did you?’ and ‘If you didn’t, then why?’ And also look at it from the person who’s running that office to say, ‘What problems do you see?’”
Welsh acknowledged the common perception that workplaces addressed sexual harassment in the 1990s, and that bullying or psychological harassment is what’s prevalent today.
“I think it’s partly driven by the attention that’s focused on it. And part of the reason we wanted to do our report is to draw attention to the fact that sexual harassment is still around,” said Welsh.
“It’s just not the kind of thing that the media is biting right now, and it’s also not the thing that consultants are focusing on. The money right now is on bullying. It’s a semi-cynical view, you might say.”
Glenn French, president and CEO of Canadian Initiative on Workplace Violence, said the study shows that “we are light years away from being able to really define harassment, in terms of ensuring that people have redress and can be protected from this kind of behaviour. We’ve got a long way to go.”
Asked for recommendations, the 12 focus groups and 17 women interviewed in the study named support as the thing they needed the most.
One woman said “Sometimes it is just nice to know that someone believes you.” Others said they could use better access to legal advice.
