Sex Harassment Prevention Event Held
By Caroline Chan
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. — On Tuesday, September 11th at 7 p.m., Vassar College’s Villard Room started to fill up with attendees for an event about sexual harassment, something that has become very heavily discussed as of late.
Entitled “Addressing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: Compliance and Response,” the event was geared towards explaining the rights of employers and employees with regards to sexual harassment. Three speakers spoke on different aspects of the issue, from new legislation to tips for employers and employees.
The night began with some casual networking and light refreshments, then attendees were welcomed and introduced to what the event had in store for them by Women’s Professional Network (WPN)’s president, Lea Bishop, and American Association of University Women (AAUW)’s Poughkeepsie branch president, Diane Jablonski. The two organizations co-presented this event.
Bishop thought to create this event last year and reached out to Jablonski to see if AAUW would be interested in co-sponsoring the event. Both organizations fight for women’s rights in a way, just in different forms.
“WPN is an educational and networking organization for professional women,” Bishop said. They work to help their members develop close relationships and “create a supportive environment for professional women.”
AAUW is a non-profit run mostly by volunteers. “[We] work on issues relating to discrimination against women in all forms,” Jablonski said. “We fight for gender equality at all levels.”
After introductions, the three speakers took turns talking about a specific topic with regards to sexual harassment in the workplace, and then the night ended with a roundtable, Q&A discussion/panel. Brittney Denley, associate director of the office of Equal Opportunity & Affirmative Action and Vassar’s Title IX investigator, spoke first.
Broadly, she reviewed the legal updates at the federal, state and local levels. Specifically however, she discussed the new requirements of New York Senate bill S7848A, which is sponsored by Republican Senator Catharine Young and is seeking to change how sexual harassment in the workplace will be treated. It will require, among other things, all New York employers to have a sexual harassment policy and mandatory yearly sexual harassment training for their employees. It will also broaden the scope of those protected under the law, if they are sexually harassed.
“As a society and as a state, we need to step forward to protect people from the discrimination and degradation of sexual harassment and abuse. Bringing this issue out of the darkness and into the light is the first step towards addressing this problem. The other component involves changing our laws to help prevent harassment, punish abusers and protect victims,” Young said in a December 15, 2017 press release.
Denley is used to focusing on laws about sexual harassment. “In my role at Vassar I investigate complaints of protected class based discrimination and harassment and sexual misconduct,” Denley said. “I monitor the College’s compliance with federal and state laws in these areas.”
This new law also provides definitions of things such as ‘sexual harassment,’ ‘contract’ and ‘employer.’ “Establishing a definition in state law offers protection for everyone involved in sexual harassment cases,” Young said in the same press release. “With a consistent standard to evaluate claims, the subjectivity is removed, providing a clear benchmark for evaluating the merits of a case. This will benefit both claimants and the accused.”
She added that this law will address the “call to action demanded by the many courageous voices who have brought the issue of sexual harassment out of the darkness and into the light,” Young said in a March 30, 2018 press release. “The provisions in this law target sexual harassment from every angle… We lift the veil of anonymity that has protected serial abusers with new limitations on secret settlements.”
As promising as this sounds, it seems to be up in the air as to how strictly this law will be implemented. “It’s not clear how the state is going to enforce compliance with the law,” Denley said.
Lawyer (and fellow speaker) Jonna Spilbor agreed. “I think it’s the type of law that going to be tested in the future,” Spilbor said. She explained that there aren’t any provisions to enforce it. “[It’s a] new body of law…we don’t know how it’s going to shake out.”
Regardless, it’s important for people to know what the law is. “It’s very important for people to react in the right way and stand up for all women,” Bishop said. She said she always encourages women to express their opinions. “Sexual harassment affects mostly women — and who’s going to fix it and address it but women?”
In any case, this event covered something very important. “I think it’s fair to say that everyone’s been touched by sexual harassment,” Jablonski said.
Denley added that these events also help to inform people on what sexual harassment is and what their responsibilities regarding it are. “Events such as this one are critical to making employers’ obligations clear, make the path to implementation easily navigable, and provide practical tools for how to identify harassment and effectively support victims thereof,” Denley said.
Leah Feldman, director of Family Services Center for Victim Safety and Support, expressed her hopes for effects of the event. “I am really hopeful that we are coming together to re-think how we treat one another in the workplace and to ensure that the workplace is a safe and supportive environment for everyone,” Feldman said.
She pointed out that people are hesitant to report sexual harassment in the workplace. “Statistics show that 1 in 3 women aged 18–34 will experience sexual harassment in the workplace, so odds are if you are an employer, you will have employees who are experiencing this,” Feldman said.
Besides the new law, a specific movement made this event particularly relevant.
This event was actually discussed prior to the #MeToo movement. Bishop said that while that played a huge role in bringing this event about, she also thought that sexual harassment is an important topic to cover — and she’s also experienced sexual harassment herself as well, so she has a personal connection to the topic.
However, it also seemed like not all attendees were there because of #MeToo. Margaret Nijhuis, a retired teacher and AAUW member, came for the speakers. “I have heard a couple of these speakers before and I wanted to hear them again,” Nijhuis said.
WPN members Michele Foriska and Melissa Charest both work in human resources at H.O. Penn Machinery and felt like they could benefit to learn more. They especially wanted to “keep up with the compliance issues,” Charest said.
L’Quette Taylor and Christopher Grant, partners and co-organizers of a non-profit called Community Matters 2, were also there to learn, as well as see the different resources available to the victims. “We want to know about harassment and how to handle the issue,” Taylor said.
Regardless, #MeToo has really thrown sexual harassment and sexual assault into the limelight. “Some very prominent women began to speak out about [sexual harassment and]…that has given women more [of a] willingness to talk about it,” Jablonski said. She stressed the importance of “raising awareness and encouraging women to take action.”
Spilbor’s presentation was all about #MeToo and how to avoid it in the workplace. She discussed the different kinds of sexual harassment, the importance of keeping records and taking notes, the need for people to speak up, and the reasons sexual harassment isn’t discussed and reported in the workplace.
There are two kinds of sexual harassment. The more obvious one is ‘quid pro quo,’ where someone in a position of power makes someone in a position of lesser power feel like they have to do the sexual thing that is asked by the high power person, or the low power person could lose their job, be demoted, etc. Spilbor said a textbook example of this is the Harvey Weinstein case.
The second kind is ‘hostile work environment,’ which is trickier to identify and less obvious, and is just that — someone creating a hostile work environment due to their actions and/or words. This includes offensive jokes, slurs and name calling, physical assaults or threats, intimidation and ridicule, insults and even offensive objects or pictures. Spilbor clarified that if this happens once and you talk to the offender and the situation is resolved, or if this happens very rarely, it’s probably not sexual harassment. But if this happens frequently and/or the person doesn’t stop after repeatedly being asked to, it could qualify as sexual harassment.
She pointed out that the problems with reporting sexual harassment arise from employees being afraid to speak up, and employers either being afraid to lose key employees (from the offender or victim side), or being afraid of making the wrong call.
Feldman was last to speak, and as someone in her position, she spoke about sexual harassment with a look towards focusing on the victim. She also gave tips on what victims, people the victims share their experiences with and employers, can do about sexual harassment in the workplace.
“It’s pretty common in our culture that we hear victim blaming,” Feldman said. “We want to talk about how we can create a culture that is victim-centered.”
She stressed that the most important thing to do, if someone tells you they were sexually harassed, is to believe them. Otherwise, they’re likely to shut down and be more hesitant to speak out about and report their experiences.
“I think it is [also] important to note that talking about sexual harassment also brings to light issues of gender inequity in the workplace,” Feldman said. “Research suggests that if women are underrepresented in the workplace that they are more vulnerable to acts of sexual harassment and other acts of sexual violence. It is important that we look at the structure of our companies and consider gender equity.”
This event was great and informational for all involved. “I like to be involved in events that empower women and…make them have happier, healthier lives,” Spilbor said. “When we find our voice, we find our power.”
