The rules of the new economy are being written. Let’s ensure the future of work is safe for women.
OPINION | Ending sexual harassment in the gig economy
Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s opinions staff.
One best idea: Sexual harassment takes place everywhere. This is one in a series of posts about how various industries can change to stop sexual harassment. What’s your one best idea? Share it here.
Ai-jen Poo‘s idea: Protect workers in the gig economy
Poo is the executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and co-director of Caring Across Generations
With sexual harassment and assault revealed to be prevalent in public workplaces, imagine what is happening to workers who labor behind closed doors in homes around the country.
Domestic workers — those who care for our children as nannies, clean our homes and support the elderly to live at home as they age — are some of the most at-risk and invisible workers in the nation. Not only is their workplace the private home, but also they have faced a long history of exclusion from basic protections afforded workers in other industries. We need to rewrite our harassment and discrimination policies to include all working people, regardless of field or employment classification.
Some of our most progressive labor protections exclude domestic workers, by design or default. During the negotiations surrounding the New Deal, Southern members of Congress, in exchange for their support, insisted on the exclusion of farm workers and domestic workers from labor protections afforded others. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act requires a threshold number of employees for workers to be protected from discrimination and sexual harassment. Because they typically work in settings with only one employee, the vast majority of domestic workers are excluded.
We live in an age in which work itself is changing. As more people work as freelancers, independent contractors or in temporary, part-time settings, they are failed by our inadequate legal protections against discrimination and harassment. How many female Uber drivers have faced harassment from male passengers at night? How many housecleaners, the original gig workers, have been manhandled by the “man of the house”? “Non-traditional” work is becoming the norm, and more women are falling through the cracks of our written rules of conduct.
The rules of the new economy are being written at this very moment. We have a unique opportunity to write them in a way that ensures the future of work is safe for women — and while we’re at it, to address pay equity and value women’s work equally. Thanks to the courage of women from Anita Hill to Rose McGowan and all who have shared their #MeToo stories, we’re having a real conversation about working while female. It’s time to ensure that the future of work for all women is safe and dignified.
