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Sexual Harassment Is Bad Business. Now What?

This article is more than 6 years old.

Sexual harassment and sexual misconduct conversations are finally consuming our dining rooms and our boardrooms. For many of us who have grown up in the corporate world, the stories we hear on the television are not new; however, they are now being exposed and discussed. And, corporate executives are beginning to realize that this behavior is bad business.

The stories of sexual harassment in the workplace have become very personal for me. My daughter, Kyle Godfrey-Ryan, came forward recently to speak about being a victim of sexual harassment; her goal is to support other victims and let the healing begin. In Kyle’s op-ed piece in CNN, she articulates her thesis; "I worked for Charlie Rose. Calling him a villain isn’t the answer."

Gender Discrimination Is Bad For Business: Show Me The Money

Sallie Krawcheck, CEO of Ellevest, a digital financial advisement company for women, understands how gender discrimination is bad for business. The past president of the Global Wealth Management division for Bank of America states in her New York Times piece that, “Homogeneity has led Wall Street firms to travel in packs…” and white men still lead the Wall Street pack.  She eloquently points out that this lack of diversity has led to several financial disasters and argues that indeed this is bad business. Krawcheck goes on to say that “… one can draw a line from the gender discrimination on Wall Street through to the lack of women — and lack of diversity of thought — in the industry to increased risk and to the financial crisis.”

It’s not just the composition of the workplace that affects the bottom line. The Bill O’Reilly case is a perfect example.  O’Reilly was a big money-earner for Fox News, and the executives knew about the sexual harassment charges; however, they chose to leave him on air until significant advertisers started to boycott.  “After weeks of public criticism — and an advertising boycott involving more than 80 companies — Fox News… dropped Bill O’Reilly…” Women are finding a new power – their social media voice – and advertisers are listening.

Have We “Come A Long Way, Baby?”

What was a marketing campaign for the popular cigarette brand, Virginia Slims, has become a real tale of feminism in the United States. “You’ve come a long way, baby” depicts our struggle to have a seat at the management desk and the boardroom table, as equals, with our male counterparts. We’re not there yet, especially when it comes to sexual harassment.

We thought that the first step in battling sexual harassment was education. Check that off the list. The Class of 2017, considering all degrees, has 141 women graduating as compared to 100 men, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Do companies with women in senior positions financially outperform companies with fewer women at the top? Yes, check that off the list (says Catalyst, a global nonprofit working to advance women’s leadership in the workplace). A recent study of over three hundred Fortune 500 companies indicated that there is a strong link between women in executive or senior management positions and positive financial performance of Fortune 500 firms.

So, while it is true that women are producing amazing outcomes for Corporate America, why are they having trouble raising capital? Venture capitalists (VCs) are more likely to treat women as second-class citizens, Krawcheck points out in her New York Times op-ed.  It might be the time for VCs to look toward women-owned startups or firms for their next investment.  According to FirstRound, a VC firm, “Companies with a female founder performed 63% better than our investments with all-male founding teams.” So, check the bottom-line benefits off your list, as well.

Why Do We Not Protect Our Employees?

I didn’t want to personalize this piece; however, in the spirit of #MeToo movement, I must mention my story. Without going into too much detail, I began my career in banking in 1972.  To say that I was an anomaly is an understatement. I was one of the very few women in the financial world, and I was continuously harassed. Who did I discuss this with?  Sometimes my husband or friends, but never, ever anyone in the bank.  We didn’t even have the term, “sexual harassment.” To speak up would have been career suicide. How could these husbands, fathers, and bastions of the corporate world act like this?

How do we protect our daughters and loved ones who are entering the workplace today?  How do we empower them to stand up and speak out when we were speechless?  What advice do we give to them and to the corporate world who need women, at all levels, if they are to succeed?  How do we prevent them from ruining careers and dashing their hard-earned dreams?  The answer is not as simple as going to Human Resources to report the infraction.  By reporting the incident, the chances are high that you are labeled as a “trouble-maker.”  Also, the mandatory “sexual harassment” training courses are not the answer either.

Obviously, we need systems in place.  Human resource reports and sexual harassment training are a good start.  Women in my day had nowhere to go.  Unfortunately, things have not changed much. My daughter went to the Executive Producer (a woman) on the Charlie Rose Show to report what Charlie had done.  The next day my daughter was fired, and obviously, the behavior continued.

We Haven’t Quite "Come A Long Way, Baby"

According to McKinsey & Company, it will take us 100 years to achieve gender parity. And, most of us won’t be around to witness this achievement.  We thought that, if we broke the glass ceiling in the 1970’s, there would be a wake-call for men in power.  We thought that Corporate America would embrace and accept the reality of women in the workplace as equal contributors, deserving to be treated with equal respect. This just seemed like good business to us.

As an Executive In Residence at a business school for an Ivy League University, I mentor graduate students.  In that capacity, a group of young women approached me last year to set up a women’s group where they could discuss sexual harassment and other gender-biased workplace issues, off the record.  Sadly, many of the same challenges and issues I experienced in the 1970s are happening in the workplace today.  The invite for dinner, the hand on the knee, the whispers that, “You are not a team player because you don’t want to go drinking with us” are all still commonplace. Or, how about, “Now that you have children, you probably don’t want to travel, or stay late,” which all leads to the unspoken seriousness about your career.

Let’s Start The #NowWhat Campaign

The conversations should be taking place in the boardrooms with your senior management as well as the dining rooms with our families.  It is our collective responsibility to examine this behavior in ourselves and come together to change that behavior.  We need to start with our words and let them become our actions. “Locker room talk” cannot be justified.  Think about the worst insult that you can give a young boy or a male athlete?  “You throw just like a girl.”  We may all be guilty of embedding that subconscious belief of disrespect into our young children.

The next thing we all need to work on is shifting the corporate paradigm of power.  Power should not mean dominance and entitlement.  With power should come the desire to protect and lead with wisdom, by example.  We can’t define power as the ability to lord over others ruling by tyranny and fear, taking what we desire by coercing those less powerful.

First, we must find our voices. I am learning from my daughter, Kyle Godfrey-Ryan’s and am quoting from her CNN op-ed piece. “I implore us to embrace and examine the discomfort of this historic time. Allow the anger, the rage, the sadness and the numbness to sink in.  Only then can we treat ourselves with all the compassion and vigor we can muster.  A society in which everyone, men and women, allows themselves to feel and process difficult experiences is both healthier and less susceptible to predatory behavior.

This is not an impossible task, but is a hurdle we must overcome.  Today, we are in mourning.  We are still immersed in a time that has only recently unchained the suppressed female voice.  Tomorrow, we will be required to live again, and I hope we choose to heal.”

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