A lot of people are talking about sexual harassment in legal tech this week after reports of incidents of sexual harassment at last week’s conference. Now, one incident from last week and others are coming to light.
An incident that did occur last week and appears to have helped spearhead the discussion was described by Shimmy Messing in this LinkedIn article where his friend and colleague was being harassed, and Shimmy says the guy pulled a knife on him when he tried to intervene! According to Shimmy, the guy was arrested and has been fired from his employer.
I also became aware earlier today of a LinkedIn thread started by Deeanna Fleener last week, which also spearheaded the discussion where she discussed how, in a group of 29 women, 20 had personal stories of inappropriate behavior at a conference. A couple of examples were:
“Last night, I was propositioned in the most graphic way I’ve ever heard. When I turned him down, he tried to convince me to leave with him by telling me his pregnant wife was on bedrest and I was doing her a favor.”
“A leader at a firm showed me a video of 2 girls under 20 in his bedroom naked and invited me and the other woman I was with to join him.”
Horrible.
Additionally, I saw this article from Samantha Mather, who detailed her own harassment experience. I’m sure there are many others – there are plenty of stories out there.
A few points:
- As a couple of people pointed out in comments to my post in LinkedIn yesterday, this isn’t just a conference problem, it’s not even just a workplace problem, it’s a societal problem. Couldn’t agree more.
- In his article, Shimmy said: “I have had countless conversations the last few days where I have been told of incidents that occurred feet away from where I was at the time, of which I was totally unaware.” I’m sure that’s true for many of us (including me) and it’s alarming. Sometimes, the larger and louder the crowd, the easier it is to get away with things.
- Someone else pointed out to me that a pledge to stop improper behavior doesn’t do any good if it’s not reinforced and enforced. I agree with that too. There needs to be training and regular reminders (with clearly spelled out consequences) to keep it top of mind. Many of us don’t need that to do the right thing, but some do.
- One person told me today that their company has stopped sending women to conferences and “it will never end”. I worry that’s true; however, we are seeing industry professionals being held accountable more for unacceptable behavior, even at the top of organizations. A few months ago, a prominent CEO in our industry resigned after an alleged sexual harassment incident was reported in the news (many of you probably know who I’m talking about). So, I think there is hope.
I began looking for resources this afternoon but need more time to pull together a more comprehensive list of meaningful resources to share. I’m open to any resources that people want to share – if you have any, feel free to share in the comments. However, I did find two that I think are useful:
- ASA Working Group on Harassment: The American Sociological Association (ASA) has compiled a list of resources here, which has been updated over time, to support efforts to better understand, prevent and respond to harassment.
- NSVRC Employer’s Pledge: The National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) has created this Employer’s Pledge form for companies to complete “to support our/my employees and honor our customers/clients by ensuring a workplace free from sexual harassment and sexual violence.” The fifth bullet point – “Regularly discuss protocol for reporting sexual harassment/sexual violence with employees” – is key to making it stick.
Here’s MY pledge: From now on, every post I make to promote a conference will include a reminder that harassment continues to be a problem at conferences, with a link to resources for more information (including the two above and others as they are identified). Sometimes, I get busy, so if I forget to include that reminder, feel free to REMIND me!
Keeping this issue in the forefront is the only way I know of to have a chance to stop it. I’ll do my best to do my part.
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