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From farmwork to the halls of Congress, gender-based violence and harassment is not just misconduct. It’s a widespread workplace hazard, even if federal law fails to treat it as such.
The recent sexual misconduct allegations against House Representatives Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzalez, the sexual abuse allegations tied to Cesar Chavez, and the hundreds of men named in the Epstein Files all reveal a hard truth: Our institutions have failed to protect women from the systemic violence they face.
As a labor organizer, abuse survivor, and researcher on labor policy, this is something I have experienced firsthand. In my case, a fellow student in my graduate program would follow me home from work, break into my apartment, and smash plates on my head until I met his demands: writing his papers and doing his work. As a result, my grades suffered, I couldn’t focus at work, I developed severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and I felt controlled.
Sadly, there is nothing unusual about this. Globally, more than one in five workers say they have faced gender-based violence or harassment at work. In the United States, nearly 40 percent of women report being harassed on the job and 60 percent say they’ve experienced sexual coercion or crude conduct at work, while 14 percent of men report experiencing sexual harassment at work.
Gender-based violence and harassment in the workplace is about “power over,” not desire or attraction. Power imbalances keep workers isolated and vulnerable. This impacts their performance, their personal lives, and potentially their economic standing.
This is part of a larger pattern in which workplace harassment and violence are treated as personal grievances, not violations of occupational safety. In light of Workers Memorial Day on April 28, it is essential to recognize the importance of preventing gender-based violence.
And, in fact, we have the power to make this happen. Worker-led movements have led to city ordinances that address gender-based violence at work.
For example, in Chicago, Illinois, women workers and survivors in 2017 launched a “Hands off, Pants On” campaign after a union survey that 58 percent of all hotel workers surveyed, including housekeepers, room service servers, bartenders, and waitresses, had experienced sexual harassment from guests, including sexual assault.
This campaign led to passage of a city ordinance mandating panic buttons for hotel staff, allowing workers to quickly notify hotel security that they are in a potentially violent situation. The new law also prohibits hotel employers from retaliating against a hotel worker for using the panic button or reporting gender-based violence.
And the gender-based violence captured in the 2015 PBS documentary Rape on the Night Shift kicked off worker and survivor-led organizing in California. This led to the passing of the Property Service Workers Protection Act in 2017, which requires all janitorial companies in California to provide sexual harassment prevention training, and to the 2019 Janitors Survivor Empowerment Act, which mandates peer-to-peer education to prevent sexual harassment and assault at work.
Since gender-based violence is deeply entrenched in U.S. culture, these policy interventions can lead to long-term change. This is also happening in other nations. In February, I traveled to Bangalore, India, to study care systems in the Karnataka state government. There I was introduced to Durga, a grassroots organization that views gender-based violence as a public safety issue. In 2019, Durga developed a twenty-five-day active bystander intervention training with street vendors to respond effectively to subtle signs of violence, such as catcalling and staring that makes women uncomfortable.
These are all examples worth emulating. But the U.S. federal government needs to do more. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the federal agency responsible for workplace safety, should formally classify gender-based violence as a hazard. It should treat gender-based violence with a preventative system rather than a reactive one.
Worker-led movements in the U.S. and around the world, in partnership with employers and government, have demonstrated effective and sustainable solutions. It’s time for our federal government to create enforceable standards with proactive requirements to prevent harm in the workplace and empower workers to report abuse without fear. Women’s economic security and equality depend on it.
Everyone deserves the right to feel safe at work. And for that to happen, U.S. labor policy must change.
This column was produced for Progressive Perspectives, a project of The Progressive magazine, and distributed by Tribune News Service.