The Plumbette recently shared her experiences as a female plumber working in a male dominated career, and sadly it seems sexual harassment is still alive and well in the tradie world.
I also found myself on the receiving end of sexual harassment early on in my career (about 25 years ago), working in the payroll office of a large organisation.
There were about 20 or so staff and only 4 were women – and the other 3 worked in different sections to me.
During the time I worked there, I had to endure:
- topless pictures of women hanging above some men’s desks. They weren’t big, only photo size, but that’s not the point. They shouldn’t have been there at all.
- plenty of teasing and innuendo as I was engaged to be married at the time.
- opening my desk drawer to find a girlie magazine left open in it.
- one older fellow who never missed a chance to brush up against me.
It all made me feel very uncomfortable. Even then, young and naive as I was, I knew it was sexual harassment. Eventually I plucked up my courage and talked with the manager about it, something which was incredibly difficult for me. His response? Basically that I was over-reacting and needed to take a chill pill. I was made to feel that *I* was the one with the problem, and that I should just accept that boys will be boys, build a bridge, and get over it.
I said as much in my comment on the Plumbette’s blog post and in return she made an excellent point. “Boys will be boys” – but would my husband do that to his colleagues? Of course you know what the answer is, because I’m pretty sure it would be the same for your husband, partner or father. NEVER. Real men show respect for women, whether it be at home, at school, in an office, or in a male dominated field such as plumbing.
If boys will be boys, I think it’s time they mann(er)ed up and learned some basic manners!
Have you ever been sexually harassed in the workplace? What did you do about it and were you taken seriously?