Making the laws work
Making sexual harassment an offence under the law has been a positive step for women. However, as we are constantly reminded, it is only one step in creating a society free of sexual harassment.
On April 24, the Australian reported on a demonstration of Mitsubishi workers in Illinois, USA. However, this was a demonstration with a difference; Mitsubishi paid the workers to demonstrate. It chartered 59 buses, each carrying 50 people, and closed the plant. Workers were given time off on full pay. Some 3000 Mitsubishi employees protested for four hours.
What was the reason for this? The US federal government's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) had filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Mitsubishi because of alleged sexual harassment at the Illinois plant. The "demonstration" took place outside the EEOC in Chicago.
The EEOC suggested that sexual harassment at the plant was the worst it had ever seen. The complaints were: junior managers had fondled women and made physical threats; women had been called demeaning names; men had drawn obscene pictures of women on the bumpers of cars; and one man had placed an air gun between the legs of a woman and pulled the trigger. As well as this, management has a record of retaliating against anyone who complains.
It appears that Mitsubishi decided to deal with EEOC's legal action the same way. With its rent-a-crowd demonstration, it attempted to isolate those who complained of sexual harassment.
This stunt was not just aimed at winning over its workers. Mitsubishi was also keen to win influence the court's proceedings. For Mitsubishi, the "rent-a-crowd" demonstration was a much less costly alternative to paying a settlement up to or exceeding US$1.2 million (US$300,000 for each person).
This incident is a example of how those with money try to influence the legal system — a common enough occurrence under capitalism. This is why legislative change alone is not enough to change society.
I hope the women at Mitsubishi win their case because that would encourage other women to seek justice. But sexual harassment is rife in many places and never reported. The biggest obstacle to women reporting such unwelcome behaviour is their fear of isolation within the workplace or community. There is also the threat of losing friends and/or career opportunities. The four or so women at Mitsubishi in Illinois are probably feeling this at the moment.
For sexual harassment laws to be implemented we cannot rely on the justice system. We need the majority of society to agree on what is, and is not, acceptable behaviour in the work place.
The best way to achieve this is through a movement — led by women — but which includes men. Change has to happen at the grassroots level and only a movement that is active in the work places, the unions and communities can organise for change on this scale. Only with this sort of mass mobilisation will we have a chance of convincing men and women about the need for change and of making the laws work.
By Trish Corcoran