Sexual Harassment In 'Glory'

Once Josey Aimes manages to run away from her abusive husband in 1989; she takes her two children, Sammy and Karen with her back to her hometown in northern Minnesota. She goes on to live with her parents, Alice and Hank. Since Josey was pregnant with her first child Sammy while she was still a teenager and Sammy’s father was never known, Hank thinks of her daughter as promiscuous and is therefore not proud of her. Everyone else in town shares the same of opinion of Josey and they do not want to be associated with her. She only has two friends Glory Dodge who works at the local mines and Kyle, who is Glory’s husband. Glory helps Josey get a job at the mines-the main source of revenue for the town. As a result of the bad blood between Josey

and her father, Glory and Kyle offer Josey and her kids a place in their home.
Josey swiftly gets acquainted with the other female mine-workers - Glory, Peg, Sherry and Big Betty. Before long, it dawns on Josey that most of the male miners, especially Bobby Sharp, whom she was friends with in High School, continuously sexually harass and humiliate their female co-workers. The majority of the people in town don’t believe in the notion of women working in the mines. Subsequent to observing the harassment of women, her own experience included, Josey approaches her direct supervisor with the problem. However, he brushes her off because he is also not supportive of women working in the mine.
As a result of Josey’s efforts to combat sexual harassment in the workplace, the men retaliate by tarnishing her name and spreading false rumors of her seducing them.

Bobby's wife publicly rebukes Josey and consequently Sammy is inclined to believe the rumors that his mother is in fact a loose woman. The mine’s board of directors dismisses Josey’s complaints of the treatment of women in the mines and after Bobby sexually assaults her at work, Josey finally resigns from her job. She then requests Kyle and Glory’s friend, Bill White (a lawyer), to help her take legal action against the mining company. Bill advises her that she would need to get backing from the other female miners to increase her chances of winning the case. This would make it the country’s first ever class-action sexual-harassment court case. However, the female miners are not so quick to join the case because they don’t want to risk losing their jobs or escalating the harassment. Josey, furthermore, finds out that Glory is suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease otherwise known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

Hank is not happy with Josey's decision and because of his endless criticisms of his daughter, Alice decides to leave him. Josey hopes to talk to the miners and explain why she is filing a lawsuit during a union meeting that Hank later shows up to. The men however shut her down and insult her but her father comes to her defense. He admonishes his co-workers for being ill-mannered towards Josey and

all the other female miners.
During the court proceedings, the mine's lawyers concentrate on Josey's alleged "promiscuous" past as a defense tactic. They use Bobby Sharp as a witness. He gives a testimony on the illegitimacy of Sammy whose father he claimed was one of their high school teachers, who Josey had a consensual sexual relationship with. Josey then discloses the truth: While in high school, the teacher caught her and Bobby skipping class and kissing. They were put in detention as punishment and once it was over, Bobby was the first to leave to go and start his car. He was going to give Josey a ride home. It was at this window of opportunity that the teacher sexually abused Josey. On returning to the school for Josey, Bobby froze when he saw what was happening and hurriedly ran away. He remained silent about it because he felt guilty for not rescuing Josey. Josey then became expectant with Sammy following the rape. Bill manages to manipulate Bobby into confessing that he is not telling the truth about the consensual nature of the sex between Josey and the teacher.
Glory shows up in court in her wheelchair. From the rear of the room, Kyle reads a letter stating that Glory supports Josey. The other women then follow suit and rise to back up Josey's complaint. The case becomes a fully blown class action as more women, family members and miners also rise to their feet in support. As a result, the mining company does not win the case and is therefore obliged to pay the women damages. They also put in place a sexual harassment policy at the workplace. Josey, proven right, shows her gratitude to Bill for his service to her and her family. She then sets off to teach Sammy driving and promises to buy him in his eighteenth birthday a car.