Today I had the misfortune of hearing about a young woman who had to leave her job in a large Supermarket chain due to sexual harassment. Last week the poor lass couldn’t go to work as she was so stressed and anxious.
The Supermarket offered to move her, not the person who was at the end of the accusation – a floor manager who is old enough to be her father – but for me, the worst part was that he wasn’t there to answer to any of this.
Why? He was on maternity leave. Maternity leave…what a b*stard!
The young lady is now unemployed, the Supermarket feel good because they paid her for her time off and the floor manager is sitting by his wife’s side playing Husband of the Year.
The sad news is that the archaic behaviour of sexism in the work place is alive and kicking; obviously there still isn’t enough being done to stop this vile behaviour.
Maybe employees should put this in their training manual: “What to do if faced with harassment”, or maybe school leavers of both sexes being taught the laws in a way a young person can understand.
I know of another woman who was a manager in one of the public services. She was being sexually harassed, went to her area manager and complained.
The person who was accused counter-complained; he was put on gardening leave with full pay, the poor woman went off sick with depression for over six months on sick pay. A year later, still no conclusion.
The powers that be continue to stick their heads in the sand while the problem just hovers until it dissolves, until the next time of course, and there will always be a next time if this continues.
I obviously can’t speak for women but as a man this sort of behaviour sickens me to the core. Manners cost nothing, people will say it’s not as bad as it used to be or it’s one person’s word against another – well, that for me is the problem. This is 2017 not 1960.
The simple solution? Treat each other with respect, it’s really not that difficult.
A very pissed off,
Mark Evison