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Sexual harassment in the work environment
Sexual assault in a workplace essays
Sexual harassment in the work environment
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The video about women janitors in the workplace highlighted on a major issue that occurs far too often which is sexual abuse in the work place. It is clear to see that in this industry which has approximately 2 million workers, and many undocumented, there is lot of underground crimes being committed. It clearly shows that many people in this profession are afraid and unaware of their rights, even if they are undocumented workers. In today’s society janitors are considered invisible and left out of the normal culture of the company. Oftentimes the janitors working at the facility are contractors with a different company. Another part to that reality is that the cleaning services that provide this service to certain companies are not registered, …show more content…
Often times when an incident is reported it is not reported in a timely matter which makes the case more elusive to prosecute. If I had to point out three major issues in this video, it would be the lack of companies’ engagement when it comes to investigating claims of assault, the emotional pain suffered from the victims, and the lack of employee knowledge when it comes to the rights that the workers have. When it comes to companies not doing their due diligence when it comes to investigating crimes I see this as a major red flag. As pointed out by the EEOC Agency when they were investigating the company ABM, they clearly pointed out that the company who is one of the largest janitorial service companies in the United States lacked action, attention, and responsibility for the claims brought forth by the employees of the company. This is coming from a company who prides themselves in being the gold standard when it comes to policy and procedures around issues of this magnitude. This raises concerns that if they are not handling issues seriously, then how are other companies conducting their business when it comes to situations like …show more content…
Even though the company can go on with the day to day operations, unfortunately the victims cannot. The mark left after the victim has been beaten, raped and assaulted is a permeant scar not just physically, but mentally. This is real traumatic pain not only for the victim, but the victim’s family. It leaves a residual impact that is lifelong. Many of the women abused had to be silenced by fear of being ashamed, being told nobody will believe them, or not being able to prove their case with physical evidence, so they simply don’t file the claim. The video does point out that a credible person who has been raped has evidence in the form of their testimony. This tool is effective in seeking justice, but often times the criminal justice system needs to see more evidence to prove the beyond a reasonable doubt. A few strategies that I have to correct these issues is empowering the workers to be more proactive. With today’s technology I would recommend janitors were body cameras at work if approved for the building for hard concreate evidence. I would also recommend each employee read the company’s policy and procedures about harassment and if it is an issue put the concerns in
In an express recognition that every sexual harassment case is likely to be profoundly circumstance-driven, Mansfield J appropriately focused on assessing the credibility of the witness, whether the alleged event did in fact occur, and whether it occurred in the way which she alleged it occurred, with a range of evidence before him. Some of the alleged conducts were directly denied: with regard to an April 2005 allegation concerning A Hickinbotham, after assessing the ‘reasonable’ time period in which the incident should have been reported given the surrounding circumstances (e.g. Poniatowska’s position at work), the judge rejected her claim on ground of the significant delay in reporting the incident. Reasonableness was again considered in dealing with a September 2005 allegation concernin...
There should be more aggressive and strict policies in cases like sexual harassment because it causes lots of trauma to the victim and as in this case the complaint was filed way later than the actual violation committed. There should be more supportive ways for all the individuals in an organization to report such cases with utmost confidentiality.
The articles by Meika Loe and Charlie LeDuff both exhibit how working conditions for women and minorities post-Industrial Revolution United States has not changed. Though some of what was happening at Bazooms was not the same as the slaughterhouse, both had do deal with verbal abuse, considered to be the lowest common denominator in the workplace, and fearing for your job. In today’s society, such affairs still happen within the workplace. People are viewed based on their gender or race and not their actual work ethic. Those who are illegal aliens get exploited for their status and get scrutinized for the wages being lowered since, they have little to no power cannot challenge authority. The women at Bazooms are degraded not only with the managers, but also the customers; however they can challenge authority.
In her narrative, “Serving in Florida”, she describes life as low income American through her experiences as a hotel maid. Ehrenreich vividly describes the inhumane working conditions in which many Americans must endure in order to survive. Employees are fearful of losing their jobs if they do not meet the certain demands of managers who unfairly exert control on them. In addition, Ehrenreich addresses a common misconception among Americans, that those living in poverty are not hard working people, she proves this to be an unfair portrayal of the underprivileged. Ehrenreich works alongside Maria, a Hispanic woman who is the housekeeping manager and Carla, an African American woman who is also a maid. Carla and Ehrenreich are given nineteen rooms to clean with one half hour break. Carla suffers from joint pain which causes her to move slowly. Ehrenreich notes that Carla’s slow pace will probably result in the loss of her job at the hotel because of the other immigrant workers who are much faster than she. Even Carla is fully aware that she is not valued as an employee, “She broods, too, about all the little evidences of disrespect that come her way, and not only from management. ‘They don’t care about us,’ she tells me of the hotel guests; in fact, they don’t notice us at all unless something gets stolen from a room— ‘then they’re all over you’” (277). Individuals such as Carla are extremely hard working, but despite their strong work ethic, low income citizens are seen as disposable by their employers. Not only are they looked down upon by their employers, but they also are treated with disrespect by the people in which they serve. The guests make automatic assumptions because she is from a lower class standing. They assume that she must degrade herself to theft in order to survive because she is not as fortunate. The
When university or police find out about the sexual assault, they immediately blame the victim or question what the victim was wearing, drinking, or doing. “Brownmiller identified four basic rape myths: (1) All women want to be raped; (2) a woman cannot be raped against her will; (3) a woman who is raped is asking for it; and (4) if a woman is going to be raped, she might as well enjoy it” (Helgeson, 2012, p. 432). In The Hunting Ground, the rape myth, which a woman who is raped is asking for it, is seen throughout the testimonies of the survivors. Clark, herself, was told by her dean that “rape is like a football game” and asked if “looking back, what would you have done differently?” (Ziering & Dick, 2015). These rape myths affect how many victims actually report and how seriously sexual assaults are taken within universities and the justice system. For example, some women, themselves, subscribe to rape myths because they see how current cases are handled. “Women who did not physically fight off the person who raped them and who subscribed to the rape myth that “it can’t be rape if a woman doesn’t fight back” were less likely to acknowledge that they had been raped” (Helgeson, 2012, p. 434). Universities need to teach first-year students about consent and how to
Women now hold their place in the workforce and we have our eight hour day. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was one of the people who strongly believed that women needed opportunities for labor, and women have gotten those rights. On the contrary, women still get paid less than men. According to CNN Money, “men still make more than women in most professions -- considerably more in some occupations than others, according to a new study by the job search site Glassdoor”. Although we like to comfort ourselves with the idea that we have gotten our rightfully earned rights, we had not been given bathroom breaks until 1998. Furthermore, employees are still afraid to have a voice in the workforce. Employers establish rules that basically let laborers know that they are inferior. In Ehrenreich 's case, she witnessed being told that her bag was subject to being looked through at any time, and she saw how degrading drug tests were. Ehrenreich argues that“the drug tests, the constant surveillance, being ‘reamed out’ by managers- are part of what keeps wages low”(Ehrenreich 211) which is agreeable seeing as the low wage workers decline to fight for better conditions due to fear. Additionally, Barbara figures out that minimum jobs do not equal minimum labor, which has always been the case. I agree with that fact due to
This situation can still be remaining not only in the fields but at other jobs and even though many of the woman had spoken up for themselves and went to the Department of Justice. “The Evans case has changed Washington because now they do trainings in sexual harrasmant and get true mangers who know how to truly report sexual harassment” (Frontline/ Bergman). The training of sexual harassment has helped because by putting that training in the workforce and the managers now feel obligated to report any situation. “The U Visa program would protect victims of crime, rape, kidnapping and sexual assault from being deported it would be so that victims can stay in the country and testify against the perpetrators and protect the victims” (Frontline/ Bergman). This U Visa program did put a lot of women in the calmer side because if they knew now if they were being assaulted they were fine to report and not be scared anymore to be
In Rape in the Fields, women who had been sexually assaulted and raped by men in positions of power chronicled their experiences working on farms and in processing factories. The way in which the documentary distinguishes between “unwelcome” and “involuntary” advances is illustrated through the personal narratives of different women. For some, the sexual harassment they faced was unwelcome, but submission to these sexual advances was required in order to stay in the country as undocumented immigrants, keep their jobs, and sometimes even their lives. For other women, sexual advancements were completely involuntary as they were raped, but still faced many challenges in seeking help from these abusive situations. 2.
Since I have worked in a bar as a cashier and as security, I have been sexually harassed by men countless times. They grab me and tell me that they want me. I have had multiple different men tell me that I should make babies with them because they are taller than me and it would be a good investment for the NBA. Even though I tower over most women at 6 foot 3, I still have to worry about sexual harassment and sexual assault. Women are constantly told that we need to be on guard, stay away from dark alleys, keep our drinks in our hands at all times, and carry pepper spray to protect ourselves. When women report sexual assault, they are callously interviewed by police who ask what they were wearing or if they had too much to drink. We are being taught to not be raped instead of teaching men not to
When a victim comes forth, it takes a lot of courage. Unfortunately, administration treats them like as if they confessed to a crime to the assaulter. Administration has swept their problem away by suggestions such as advising them not to go to parties, not wear skanky clothes, not to drink, and to sympathize with the perpetrator. This form of victim blaming can discourage them, making them feel worse, like as if they were wrong. “Sasha Menu Courey, the University of Missouri swimmer, told a nurse, a rape crisis counselor, a campus therapist, two doctors and an athletic department administrator that she was raped, but no one did anything about it. Sixteen months after the attack, she killed herself.” stated by Petula Divork, a columnist for The Huffington Post, “You can’t blame sexual assaults on clothing, flirting, binge drinking or parties. Even when you take all that away, there are still smart, clean-cut, young evangelical men who think they have a right to women’s bodies. It’s not about women stopping an attack. It’s about men learning that they never had the right to begin one.”
The impacts of sexual labor and sexual violence against these women’s lives are tremendous. These woman’s lives are changed completely after incidents of sexual violence and sexual labor. They are often ashamed or become shut-ins to avoid people from recognizing them in their past life. Some of them never made it out alive and died a painful death. As long as sexual violence and sexual labor are used as tools, women would never be equal. There would be no such than as shared womanhood.
The statistics clearly show a group of people who’re affected by the heinous acts of sexual assault. Everyone knows that sexual assault isn’t a topic that’s on the top of the list to talk about; people usually even try to go as far as to hide it or to cover it up. Though, it’s clear for certain; covering something up doesn’t make it alright – It won’t make it go away and the problem is still there. For that exact fact, it is the very reason that sexual assault is something that needs to be brought to the
“The total number of reports of sexual assaults is up 11 percent over the previous year, and 70 percent over 2012, but officials said increased reporting is a sign of better confidence in the system.”(Hlad)
...nd others. Be that voice that many don’t have and are afraid to come out. Help those who have suffered tremendous pain and suffering. There is so much to life that no one should feel violated and ashamed for what has happened to them. Everyone deserves a right to live in safety and enjoy life without being in fear all the time. Report those who have committed rape and seek help immediately. It is everyone’s responsibility to look out for each other. There are so many support groups and online support from people who have been raped and have suffered and overcome this tragic happening. Many will never forget what it was like to suffer and be raped, there is always hope for recovery and living a life of happiness. Report those rapists and put them in jail for their terrible actions. No one deserves to be violated by anyone. Everyone deserves to be respected and loved.
To conclude sexual harassment is a tremendously huge issue that should be taken seriously. The only solution for tackling this situation is to speak up when this situation happen to someone. Encourage the victim of sexual harassment to come forward and report to proper authority as soon as possible. The longer the victim waits, the less probability that it will be corrected. If there is someone out there that had been victim of harassment confront the person regarding the situation. Call for help and consult with local HR representative or appropriate authority. Do not become part of the statistics of such shameful acts. Get help! Finally, sexual harassment laws must be strengthened in order to fix what has become a serious problem today in the workplace in order to avoid having more victims.