Don’t Leave Low-Wage Women Out of the Conversation on Sexual Harassment at Work
All workers deserve respect, dignity, and safety at work. That’s why recent, highly-publicized incidents of pervasive sexual harassment and violence against women at work are so disturbing.
We are only beginning to scratch the surface of how many women experience sexual harassment at work.
Whether in the hills of Hollywood or the halls of Congress, new allegations of sexual harassment and assault perpetrated by well-known and successful men are making news even before allegations can be digested. Yet sexual harassment and assault are pervasive in the workplace across spectrums of income-level and industry.
What’s missing from this important conversation right now: the sexual harassment experienced disproportionately by low-wage workers.
Low-wage workers, more than three-fourths of whom are women and more than one-third of whom are women of color, are especially vulnerable to abuse. They simply cannot afford to lose their jobs, have their hours cut, overtime requests denied, or opportunities for advancement barred as a consequence of reporting sexual harassment and assault in the workplace.
Sexual harassment is often underreported and unaddressed out of fear of retaliation. According to a 2016 report, about one third of the grievances filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complained of workplace harassment, including sexual harassment. But an estimated three out of four employees who suffered from such harassment did not even approach a supervisor, manager, or union representative about the misconduct.
For tipped women workers, sexual harassment is ingrained in the industry culture and is accepted as a means of survival, with nearly 90% having experienced some type of sexual harassment in the workplace. In workplaces such as bars and restaurants, sexual harassment is regularly tolerated and normalized by employers, who often require women workers to objectify themselves on the job, and is compounded by customers who control most of a worker’s income.
Sexual harassment and assault is a significant problem in the hospitality industry, particularly for housekeepers who work in rooms without other workers present like guest rooms and restrooms. The City of Chicago recently passed an ordinance that requires employers to provide “panic buttons” that enable workers to summon hotel security to the room in case of an incident of sexual harassment or assault, requires employers to have anti-sexual harassment policies in place, and bans retaliation against workers who use the panic button or report sexual harassment or assault by a guest.
Domestic workers face unique challenges. Because domestic work primarily occurs within the privacy of the employer’s home, domestic workers are uniquely isolated and subject to ambiguous relationship dynamics with their employers. This leaves many domestic workers, especially live-in workers, at high risk for labor trafficking and sexual harassment without any protections or recourse.
It’s time low-wage workers are protected in the workplace through policies and a culture that honors their work.
Responses to reports of sexual harassment at work need to go further than media coverage. Perpetrators and employers should be held accountable, and laws and policies must change to better protect women in the workplace. And low-wage workers must be included in these policy debates.
State legislation such as Illinois’s Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights and Victim’s Economic Security and Safety Act offer workers important protections from abuse. And improving low-wage workers’ economic security through legislation and company policies that ensure fair wages, paid sick and family leave, and fair and predictable scheduling will empower them to call out workplace abuse.
Sexual harassment and assault and workplace discrimination keep too many low-wage workers and their families in poverty.
Only by acknowledging the pervasive nature of sexual harassment and assault and the unique issues that low-wage women face can we truly address the full scope of this problem and protect the dignity of all workers.
Ellison Snider contributed to this blog.
