The Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University welcomes guest blogs and encourages our friends and supporters to submit them to the President of the GPI. In an effort to stimulate the conversation relating to global issues and problems, some of the submitted essays will be published on our web site. Thank you.
We are pleased to publish this guest blog written by Bob Richter, a friend of the Global Policy Institute. He has worked in international businesses in the fields of Communications, Technology, Real Estate, and Manufacturing.
Like so many people I have been thinking a great deal recently about sexual harassment, what it is, how it has affected countless women, how the #MeToo movement is affecting men’s and women’s behavior in the work place and where, exactly, do we go from here? The recent disclosures of some very famous and powerful men’s conduct has finally gotten the attention of our society regarding sexual harassment and we can no longer ignore this type of behavior. It is now clear that sexual harassment is pervasive throughout our society and has been for generations. We now see that for many women in the workplace the past has been a time when they either had to choose between possibly ending their careers or acceding to sexual demands that they were loathe to accept. The workplace was not the only site of this behavior where the message was submit to a superior’s demands or face the consequences which were most always detrimental to the woman’s future.
As the harassment actions have been made public by the many brave victims and the specifics of the harassment have been detailed by those affected, the public reaction has been wholly supportive of the women. In most cases there has been quick punitive action taken by the organizations that employed or were involved with the accused. The actions have been swift and clear. The message has been “we will not condone this behavior and should it occur a price will be paid.”
Women have been victimized, harassed and essentially ignored for as long as anyone can remember and no doubt much longer than living memory. Hopefully this is not an issue that will fade from the public’s view as many issues do after the initial attention grabbing headlines disappear and we move on to another new topic that grabs the attention of our ever shorter attention spans and obsession for new topics of excitement.
Assuming this is an issue, because of its seriousness and importance to our society, that will remain front and center for a long time we need to invest the time, energy and resources it deserves and the question of “where do we go from here” becomes paramount. Many organizations are appropriately investing time and resources to develop clear guidance for their respective teams as to how to handle sexual harassment when it occurs as well as guidance on how to properly manage employees to avoid sexual harassment from occurring. They are focusing on education, as education will go a long way in ultimately reducing the occurrence of this behavior.
Rarely has a day gone by when we do not learn of some noted entertainer, politician, businessman or other authoritarian figure who has been identified by a victim of past sexual harassment. What follows is generally prompt action against the accused often resulting in dismissal or some similar action depending on the role of the accused. In many of the cases the information we are receiving relate to people who have been sexually harassed for long periods of time by the same men and in a number of cases over many years. The women’s accusations have been corroborated by numerous other women and the accused often do not even deny the underlying behavior. It is as if there is a file cabinet filled with the files of men who have practiced despicable behavior for many years on many women and we are now going through the files. Serial sexual harassers, if you will. As this low hanging fruit is identified and the perpetrators suffer the consequences of their actions we will be confronted with future behavior occurring in much less public cases where there are fewer or even the absence of corroborating women or evidence.
It will be at this time that the real challenge will begin. The foundation of our justice system is due process (5th and 14th Amendments to our Constitution) and without it we cannot achieve real justice. The development of guidance and education that organizations develop to deal with sexual harassment must take into account a fair and consistent process for the accused to respond to their accuser. To achieve a fair process there is a minimum of three things that are required: (1) notice of the accusation against the accused (2) an opportunity to rebut the accusation (3) a neutral decision maker. A herd mentality appears to be forming where if an individual is accused of sexual harassment they are automatically assumed to be guilty and swift punishment is handed out. The pendulum has clearly swung in the other direction. After countless years of ignoring women’s accusations and even punishing them for making them it is understandable and even expected that people demand swift action. But the rush to judgement must be tempered with the retention of due process for the accused. This is a challenging objective but one that must not be ignored. We cannot return to a time where once an accusation is made the process is so onerous for the victim that we again force them into the shadows where they must accept their plight. Additionally, we cannot diminish the achievements and advancements that have been made with the #MeToo movement by creating a system where an accuser can now use Sexual Harassment as a tool to pursue personal objectives outside the scope of actual harassment. The challenge is great for the employer to develop procedures that protect the victim as well as the accused. The law provides only minimal guidance. It is really up to the human resources department to clearly define what is unacceptable, train employees and managers on those standards and make clear the process for dealing with it. It is paramount to seek justice for all concerned or the victory that women have finally won will be a hollow victory.