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GOVERNMENTS SHOULD BECOME LEADERS IN FIGHTING SEXUAL MISCONDUCT –NOT OFFENDERS

We’ve seen an almost endless procession of headlines chronicling the downfall of celebrities and high-profile politicians over allegations of sexual misconduct. In the span of just 24 hours last week, Ontario PC leader Patrick Brown, Nova Scotia Conservative leader Jamie Baillie and federal Liberal cabinet minister Kent Hehr all abruptly resigned amid allegations from women.

The kind of creepy behaviour they’re accused of may come as a surprise to the media and other well-sheltered Canadian elites, but to the millions of women who experience the curse of sexual misconduct in the everyday workplace without cameras or reporters to witness the damage, it’s a case of “welcome to our world.”

Want to really change this picture? Start here: since governments set the rules for the rest of the workplace and are among our largest employers, they should take the lead in setting the right tone –a zero tolerance tone– for sexual misconduct. But scandals from the RCMP to Parliament Hill and the U.S. Congress show that, far from being leaders in combating sexual misconduct, our public institutions are among the biggest offenders.

I’ve seen that movie.

It began when I was sexually assaulted by a prominent government official at an out-of-town conference of Canadian securities regulators. It was one of the most traumatic events of my life. Shock, humiliation and anger were among my immediate reactions. But I was sure that my boss –the chief operating officer of the government agency where I worked– would make every effort to support me and hold my offender accountable. Instead, he tried to bully me into dropping the matter. Every time I raised it, he cut me off with a tone full of annoyance and resentment.

A few months later, he made a number of inappropriate comments during a performance discussion. To say the least, the demands he made of me would never have been made of a man. When I objected, he flew into a rage.

This time, I decided to report what happened to the human resources department. I was not the first, or last, woman to learn what a mistake that was.

My government employer did the exact opposite of what its anti-harassment policy called for. There was no investigation. I was demoted. I was still required to interact with my harasser. And I was made to feel like an outcast –even by my female colleagues. The situation became unbearable. What happened next is exactly what occurs in too many cases where the media is not there to shine its big spotlight: I left; my harasser stayed.

Here’s something else I didn’t know: leaving a job is not the end of a sexual misconduct nightmare. It’s only the beginning.

I had an unbroken record of achievement over two decades and a stellar educational background. Still, every opportunity I pursued for employment in my areas of expertise –or anywhere in the government for that matter– led to a dead end. Likewise for private sector efforts that required references from my previous employer. The reprisal writing was clearly on the job- search wall. My repeated pleas to the highest level of the government to end this ongoing retaliation were met with silence. But the high-priced lawyers for the government agency were I worked have repeatedly threatened the most dire consequences if I ever reveal specifics about the sexual misconduct that occurred.

Victims often encounter retaliation when they stand up against sexual harassment. That’s a big reason why so many women, especially those in low-skill, low-wage jobs who live from paycheck to paycheck, are hostage to abusive bosses and are too afraid to speak out. Unfortunately, lawmakers don’t want to turn retaliation into a criminal matter, as I have long advocated. That would go a long way toward curbing reprisals.

Over the years, I’ve heard from hundreds of women who wanted to share their stories. Every one told me that if they had known about the personal pain and financial costs of pursuing a complaint, they would not have spoken out. Most were never able to resume their chosen careers and recount shocking stories about vindictive bosses and employers. Almost all felt ostracized, even by their workplace sisters. Financial problems were common, with all-important credit scores among the first casualties. Many suffered disabling health issues and some even considered suicide.

Society can’t afford to lose so much potential or to allow so much abuse and injustice to go unchallenged.

Here’s an action plan for governments developed by the Zero Now Campaign, the advocacy group I founded, that will make a difference in the real-world workplace. The private sector is more than welcome to join in.

1. Make governments at all levels disclose sexual misconduct statistics. It’s said that humans and subatomic particles behave differently when they’re being watched. But when it comes to dealing with sexual misconduct in the workplace, there is absolutely no transparency. Right now, we have no idea how many women have filed complaints, for example, in the RCMP, on Parliament Hill, or at Queen’s Park. It’s time for a sunshine law requiring every public law-making and legislative body, as well as all government-funded departments, boards, commissions, and agencies, universities and hospitals, to publish annual statistics on the number of incidents reported to them, the outcome of each complaint and any financial settlement paid.

2. End non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). Survivors of sexual misconduct often find themselves forced to sign an NDA at various stages of an investigation. These devices amount to a gag order that protects offenders and preserves the reputation of their organizations. They allow too many employers to hide behind a cloak of invisibility and treat sexual misconduct as just another cost of doing business. They make it impossible for women to speak out and protect other women or to explain to a prospective employer why job references have been tainted.

3. Hire survivors of sexual misconduct. Despite what you read about the recent downfall of figures like broadcasting legend Charlie Rose and U.S. senator Al Franken in typical cases it is the victim of sexual harassment who winds up leaving the organization. As I have been advocating for the past several years, it’s time for a high-profile campaign by our best employers, especially public sector employers, to hire the survivors whose lives and careers have been shattered because of sexual misconduct. I call it Hire Us Back.

If this is really a period of reckoning, we’ll need to see more than shocking headlines and glamorous black dress galas. We need change that can really be seen and felt among the forgotten women in the everyday workplace.

We’ve seen an almost endless procession of headlines chronicling the downfall of celebrities and high-profile politicians over allegations of sexual misconduct. In the span of just 24 hours last week, Ontario PC leader Patrick Brown,Nova Scotia Conservative leader Jamie Baillie and federal Liberal cabinet minister Kent Hehr all abruptly resigned amid allegations from women.

The kind of creepy behaviour they’re accused of may come as a surprise to the media and other well-sheltered Canadian elites, but to the millions of women who experience the curse of sexual misconduct in the everyday workplace without cameras or reporters to witness the damage, it’s a case of “welcome to our world.”

Want to really change this picture? Start here: since governments set the rules for the rest of the workplace and are among our largest employers, they should take the lead in setting the right tone –a zero tolerance tone– for sexual misconduct. But scandals from the RCMP to Parliament Hill and the U.S. Congress show that, far from being leaders in combating sexual misconduct, our public institutions are among the biggest offenders.

I’ve seen that movie.

It began when I was sexually assaulted by a prominent government official at an out-of-town conference of Canadian securities regulators. It was one of the most traumatic events of my life. Shock, humiliation and anger were among my immediate reactions. But I was sure that my boss –the chief operating officer of the government agency where I worked– would make every effort to support me and hold my offender accountable. Instead, he tried to bully me into dropping the matter. Every time I raised it, he cut me off with a tone full of annoyance and resentment.

A few months later, he made a number of inappropriate comments during a performance discussion. To say the least, the demands he made of me would never have been made of a man. When I objected, he flew into a rage.

This time, I decided to report what happened to the human resources department. I was not the first, or last, woman to learn what a mistake that was.

My government employer did the exact opposite of what its anti-harassment policy called for. There was no investigation. I was demoted. I was still required to interact with my harasser. And I was made to feel like an outcast –even by my female colleagues. The situation became unbearable. What happened next is exactly what occurs in too many cases where the media is not there to shine its big spotlight: I left; my harasser stayed.

Here’s something else I didn’t know: leaving a job is not the end of a sexual misconduct nightmare. It’s only the beginning.

I had an unbroken record of achievement over two decades and a stellar educational background. Still, every opportunity I pursued for employment in my areas of expertise –or anywhere in the government for that matter– led to a dead end. Likewise for private sector efforts that required references from my previous employer. The reprisal writing was clearly on the job- search wall. My repeated pleas to the highest level of the government to end this ongoing retaliation were met with silence. But the high-priced lawyers for the government agency were I worked have repeatedly threatened the most dire consequences if I ever reveal specifics about the sexual misconduct that occurred.

Victims often encounter retaliation when they stand up against sexual harassment. That’s a big reason why so many women, especially those in low-skill, low-wage jobs who live from paycheck to paycheck, are hostage to abusive bosses and are too afraid to speak out. Unfortunately, lawmakers don’t want to turn retaliation into a criminal matter, as I have long advocated. That would go a long way toward curbing reprisals.

Over the years, I’ve heard from hundreds of women who wanted to share their stories. Every one told me that if they had known about the personal pain and financial costs of pursuing a complaint, they would not have spoken out. Most were never able to resume their chosen careers and recount shocking stories about vindictive bosses and employers. Almost all felt ostracized, even by their workplace sisters. Financial problems were common, with all-important credit scores among the first casualties. Many suffered disabling health issues and some even considered suicide.

Society can’t afford to lose so much potential or to allow so much abuse and injustice to go unchallenged.

Here’s an action plan for governments developed by the Zero Now Campaign, the advocacy group I founded, that will make a difference in the real-world workplace. The private sector is more than welcome to join in.

1. Make governments at all levels disclose sexual misconduct statistics. It’s said that humans and subatomic particles tend to behave differently when they are actually being watched. But when it comes to dealing with sexual misconduct in the workplace, there is absolutely no transparency. Right now, we have no idea how many women have filed complaints, for example, in the RCMP, on Parliament Hill, or at Queen’s Park. It’s time for a sunshine law requiring every public law-making and legislative body, as well as all government-funded departments, boards, commissions, and agencies, universities and hospitals, to publish annual statistics on the number of incidents reported to them, the outcome of each complaint and any financial settlement paid.

2. End non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). Survivors of sexual misconduct often find themselves forced to sign an NDA at various stages of an investigation. These devices amount to a gag order that protects offenders and preserves the reputation of their organizations. They allow too many employers to hide behind a cloak of invisibility and treat sexual misconduct as just another cost of doing business. They make it impossible for women to speak out and protect other women or to explain to a prospective employer why job references have been tainted.

3. Hire survivors of sexual misconduct. Despite what you read about the recent downfall of figures like broadcasting legend Charlie Rose and U.S. senator Al Franken in typical cases it is the victim of sexual harassment who winds up leaving the organization. As I have been advocating for the past several years, it’s time for a high-profile campaign by our best employers, especially public sector employers, to hire the survivors whose lives and careers have been shattered because of sexual misconduct. I call it Hire Us Back.

If this is really a period of reckoning, we’ll need to see more than shocking headlines and glamorous black dress galas. We need change that can really be seen and felt among the forgotten women in the everyday workplace.