Women: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

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In October 2007, Anucha Browne Sanders won her sexual harassment case against Madison Square Gardens and was awarded $11.6 million. The verdict was the result of a grueling trial, where Browne Sanders, a high profile sports executive for the New York Knicks, recounted witnessing male executives pressure young female interns into sex. When she approached her boss and colleagues about the improprieties, she was met with slander, threats, and was subjected to profanity-laced tirades and sexual slurs at the hands of Thomas, the team’s coach. The judge and jury ruled in favor of Browne Sanders, ruling that the actions of Thomas and the other men had turned Madison Square Gardens into a hostile workplace.

Browne Sanders’ case shows that sexual harassment is an extremely pervasive phenomenon. It is easy to assume that such behavior only occurs in situations where women are in virtually powerless subordinate positions. However, all women workers are facing this problem if even corporate executives like her are harassed. Many instances of sexual harassment go unreported because the victims fear the retaliation of the men who harass them – letting the harassment remain invisible. However, breaking the silence enables change.

In our society, women’s work is consistently devalued – the glass ceiling, low wages associated with so-called pink-collar jobs, and expectation that women will provide massive amounts of free labor in the form of child rearing and domestic duties, are all examples. Essentially, society reduces the value of women down to their sexuality: we are given the message that women are primarily reproductive entities, overly emotional, and therefore unfit for the workplace. When the devaluation of women’s labor is combined with being viewed as sexualized objects, it is easy to see that sexual harassment is a clear manifestation of deeper social problems.

We need to remember that high profile cases like this one – which involved a major sports team and an influential female executive – remind us of how pervasive sexual harassment is but do little to solve the problem. The best defense against sexual harassment for working women is to unionize, and demand that their union fights on this issue and to end all forms of injustice in the workplace. Court cases are not enough to win the rights of women and minorities – we need to build mass movements that cut across race, gender, and class lines to overturn the entrenched inequities throughout capitalist society.

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