Managing a Hostile Work Environment<\/p>\n
There are few topics that get more polarized responses from each gender than sexual harassment.\u00a0 Never in my wildest nightmare did I expect in 2011 to be talking about this issue in the same polarized way as we are discussing the Herman Cain allegations. When I first entered the workforce the terms: \u201cHoney\u201d, \u201cGirl\u201d, and \u201cBaby\u201d were common references to women.\u00a0 It was standard fare for men to expect \u201cperks\u201d from women for the crumbs that were thrown on the table of the workplace.\u00a0 Then the term sexual harassment didn\u2019t even exist.\u00a0 The bad behavior of males at work was just the way it was.\u00a0 Shoot, we weren\u2019t all that very far away from a time when my grandmother could not even vote.<\/p>\n
Fast forward to 2011 and here we go still.\u00a0 Entitlement is an ugly thing.\u00a0 How will we stem the tide of male entitlement?\u00a0 Let\u2019s look at two \u201chow to\u201d thoughts.\u00a0 One of these is certainly at your discretion, the other might be.<\/p>\n
What do you normally do when someone oversteps a boundary with you?\u00a0 Do you in very clear words telegraph the line has been crossed?\u00a0 If a colleague comes into your office and begins that put his paws on the items on your desk what do you say?\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s private please don\u2019t mess with my stuff!\u201d\u00a0 Are you just and clear and forceful when it comes to unwanted comments or touches?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it interesting that many women won\u2019t hesitate to say \u201cdon\u2019t touch my stuff\u201d but balks at saying \u201cdon\u2019t touch me.\u201d\u00a0 Don\u2019t get me wrong, I am NOT blaming you for men\u2019s bad behavior but somehow we have to be part of the solution.\u00a0 It takes courage to state our boundaries but that pales in comparison to the courage that it takes to file a sexual harassment claim.\u00a0 Your words, your steely stare, and your unequivocal tone are all part of the solution.<\/p>\n
If you are a parent, grandparent, or teacher what an opportunity you have.\u00a0 Today is the day to be setting a new standard for our sons and daughters.\u00a0 How effective are you in conveying where the rights of girls begin and where the rights of boys end?\u00a0 Males didn\u2019t learn entitlement their first day on the job did they?\u00a0 We learn entitlement from the day we are born.\u00a0 Have the courage to help create a child who understands the rights of others.\u00a0 Until next time, have courage and be part of the solution.<\/p>\n
\u00a9Copyright 2011.\u00a0 Kay Fittes.\u00a0 All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Managing a Hostile Work Environment There are few topics that get more polarized responses from each gender than sexual harassment.\u00a0 Never in my wildest nightmare did I expect in 2011 to be talking about this issue in the same polarized way as we are discussing the Herman Cain allegations. When I first entered the workforce<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Qkhe-E","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.highheeledsuccess.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.highheeledsuccess.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.highheeledsuccess.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.highheeledsuccess.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.highheeledsuccess.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.highheeledsuccess.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":495,"href":"https:\/\/blog.highheeledsuccess.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions\/495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.highheeledsuccess.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.highheeledsuccess.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.highheeledsuccess.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}