Clarence Thomas hearings raise awareness on sexual
International Viewpoint #220 • January 20, 1992
USA harassment FOR a few days in October of 1991, the allegations of sexual harassment that Professor Anita Hill made against United States Supreme Court Justice nominee Clarence Thomas captivated the nation, prompting discussions in workplaces, schools, and homes. CAMILLE COLATOSTI
S OME of the talk focused exclu-
sively on the hearings. "Was she guilty or innocent?" everyone asked. "He seems respectable, but why would she, a tenured law professor, make this up? What would she have to gain?" More importantly, many discussions went beyond the particulars of the charges to ask questions about sexual harassment at work. "What is it?" "How widespread are its effects?" "Who experiences it and what can be done about it?"
While in the end the U.S. Senate dismissed Hill's allegations, the hearings themeselves had positive for stop. In other cases, it continued and we quietly changed jobs.
After the hearings were over, Lucille
Dickess, president of the clerical workers union at Yale University, said,
"Few women find sexual harassment acceptable. But most of us accept it.
We shrug it off; we hope it will go away; we figure it's just a part of the job - like typing or filing."
A 1989 study by the American Federation of Teachers indicated that nearly three out of four working women experience sexual harassment at work.
Despite its prevalence, however, sexual harassment is still largely perceived as a personal problem and is often handled by its victims in an individual way. Women's most common response is to quit their job. And those who choose to fight
According to the same American Federation of Teachers study, "One out of four sexual harassment victims is fired as a result of harassment and another four out of ten victims decide or are forced to quit their jobs because of harassment".
Though some men responded to the Thomas hearings with questions about what they can or cannot say or do, the definition of harassment is clear. Harassment is any repeated or unwanted verbal or ry remark made by someone in the workplace. It offends the recipient, causes her discomfort, or interferes with her job performance. In the United States, sexual harassment is considered sex discrimination and it is against the law.
But this law is relatively new. As recently as 1980, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission first identified two types of sexual harassment. Most understand the obvious kind: sexual advance, non-compliance, retaliation.
In these cases, it's easy to see the true nature of harassment.
The threat of sexual coercion is explicit. As one victim explained, her boss told her, "You're going to screw me or lose your job". Another woman, applying for a clerical position in a medical office, described her "interview": "The doctor came in and put his hands between my legs and asked me how badly I needed the job"
### Indirect harassment
But harassment may not be straightforward at all. The victim may try to ignore the advances and then find that she is not offered overtime, that the good jobs go to someone else, that her work which has been praised is now criticized. The job that looked so promising has turned sour: it becomes a nightmare. There is no way to get him to stop and no future in staying without complying.
One woman relates her experience: "Last night I tried to overdose on sleeping pills. I live in a small community where I also work... Immediately after I started working there, my boss, the owner, kept asking me out. As long as I kept saying no, my bonuses kept going down. I finally started dating him. I was pressured into an results working women. They showed that the fight against sexual harassment has come a long way. Fifteen years ago, the term "sexual harassment" did not even exist in
CLASSIC PICK-UP LINES the United States. In 1991, during the hearings, every senator had to say that if the charges were true, Clarence Thomas was unfit for the Supreme Court. That's quite a change.
When reporters asked Hill, "How could you have continued to work with him?" "How could you have kept quiet for so long?", women knew the answer because so many of us have done the same. What were our reasons? We felt we had no choice. We needed the job. We accepted our humiliation as "natural" or inevitable. We pretended we didn't really hear what was said, we repressed the words or even the actions for years, and went on with our lives.
Sometimes the man was our boss. Sometimes he was a co-worker. Sometimes, the harassment was limited to verbal abuse. Other times, we were physically threatened. Sometimes, we were the only woman targeted; other 18 times, every woman was fair game. Occasionally, the harassment would suddenly physical advance, sexually explicit derogatory statement, or sexually discriminato-
HEY, BABY,
WHAT'S YOUR
SIGN?
YOU LIKE ME
I CAN FEEL IT affair with this 49-year old married man. I am so ashamed.
WHAT'S A NICE. GIRL
LIKE YOU DOING IN A
PLACE LIKE THIS?
I'M A U.S
SENATOR.
TE R 1L
Stopping Sexual Harassment: A Strategy
USA constitutes harassment.
Tery Floren, a firefighter and editor of
Firework, the monthly newsletter of
Women In Fire Suppression, explained,
Checklist
(These suggestions on how to fight sexual harassment, from Stopping
Sexual Harassment: A Handbook, published by Labor Notes, are based on the situation and laws in the United States).
etore you begin to fight sexual harassment, get copies of anything in writi out the quality of your work. During an investigation, the employer may clai that you were fired because your work was poor.
2. Confront the harasser
Inform the harasser that his intentions are unwanted.
3. Put it in writing.
If the harassment continues, write a note, telling the harasser to stop. Date it.
"The most common reaction, when 1 objected to sexist literature being dis played in the restroom, was, 'You said you wanted to be just one of the guys — now you're asking for special treatment, saying we can't put something up because it offends you..' It's ironic that the male workers' acceptance of a woman as a coworker and equal should hinge, in this instance, on her acceptance of other women as less than people — as sexual objects..."
Keep a copy.
4. Keep a record.
Vrite down ever incident. includir crucial. It's your word against his. Any way you can corroborate your testimony
5. Get support.
Victims of sexual harassment feel isolated. You can break the isolation by talking to co-workers and friends. And by taking co-workers into your confidence, you may end the rumor mill, get emotional support, and find witnesses who can corroborate your story.
If incidents of harassment occur when someone else is around, have them write up what they observed and sign the statement.
7. Research your options. Exhaust the "in-house channels".
If there is a union, contact your union representative. Tell him or her exactly what happened. The rep might simply have a talk with the supervisor or coworker informing him that his behaviour is discriminatory to women, is not suitable to the work environment and will subject him to union action.
If the harasser persists, the union should go over his head to the boss or the labour relations staff.
If you need to take further action, check the contract. Sexual harassment is sex discrimination under the law.
Therefore, any union representative can grieve sexual harassment under the anti-discrimination clause of the contract.
If the union rep doesn't take your problem seriously, don't give up. Instead, try to organize with other women - form a women's committee if your local doesn't already have one — and make it clear that you will work to defeat any rep who thinks women's problems are a laughing matter.
If there is no union, be sure that you complain to someone over the harasser.
Your case can be thrown out of court if you did not give the company an opportunity to stop the harassment.
The Enforcement Agencies: there are guidelines for the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that encompass sexual harassment as a form of sex discrimination. But this may take several years.
Going to court: You can take your case to court under Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act which outlaws discrimination on the basis of sex. Some courts have ruled favorably, but you must have an ironclad case, patience and money.
Sexual harassment cases are difficult to win, but only by speaking up and fighting back can women ever hope to end discrimination. *
"During the times when I was dating my go sky high.
boss, my bonuses would
When I refused to see him, my paycheck would go so low I could not pay my bills or sustain myself... I cannot sleep or eat. I have lost 40 pounds which I cannot afford to do. I am skin and bones. I am a nervous wreck".
She complied with the harasser's demands. We read her words, so we understand that she is a victim of sexual harassment.
To an observer, it might look like she was getting what she wanted. Looking in from the outside doesn't tell you that she tried to commit suicide. It doesn't tell you that her boss threatened to kill her if she complained. It doesn't tell you that her father told her not to report her boss because the publicity might hurt her brother's medical practice.
There is a second kind of sexual harassment which is more subtle: environmental harassment. This involves working in a sexually hostile or intimidating atmosphere. The harassment can range from lewd jokes to nude calendars or even obsessive staring. This is particularly difficult to prove through the courts. And many people do not understand how this
"Don't stand back and cry"
Sexual harassment will persist unt Only by fighting back, by organizing in the workplace and the community can we begin to take the steps necessary to end sexual harassment.
Professor Anita Hill had the courage to speak out against Clarence Thomas. This is positive and women should not feel discouraged because her allegations were dismissed. Joyce Miller, President of the (CLUW), said, "The very serious charges, job-threatening sexual harassment made by a professor of law, should not have been summarily dismissed". This is absolutely true, and women should be angry about the treatment Hill received.
At the same time, as Miller points out, we should not feel that Hill's testimony was a waste of her and everyone's time. By speaking out against sexual harassment, by taking that risk, she reminded us of two things. First, it is important to fight the symptoms of women's oppression — like sexual harassment. And second, this fight, like all battles to end sex discrimination, is not about sex — but about power.
The fight to end sexual harassment can be won only if we also fight the larger system of women's oppression that makes sexual harassment possible. This means that we also have to fight women's second class position in the workforce, our low wages, and our lack of authority in the workplace and in unions.
When the Thomas hearings were over and the. vote was counted, Anita Hill refused to comment on her defeat. Instead, she said how glad she was that the issue of sexual harassment had been brought to the forefront of national debate. "Women who have experienced the same thing have written and said how for the first time they could talk about it. And that's important",
The secret is out. Yes, millions of people saw Hill's charges dismissed and Thomas appointed to the Supreme Court. Sex a polinic also had a crash course on 19 sexual politics. *
International Viewpoint #220 • January 20, 1992 work in the street as part of the economically active population. Evidently, there is not an economic category for minors. But if we stroll through the streets, we see that children do participate in the lumpen-capitalist system in this country. Emigrants are also excluded from the concept of marginalization. Obviously, it is one thing to say that 10% of the active population in Uruguay is unemployed and another to say
ELEUTERIO Fernandez Huidobro