Fight against injustice
Is a #MeToo movement needed in Fiji
METOO is a social movement against sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape culture, in which people publicise their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase “MeToo” was initially used in this context on social media in 2006, on Myspace, by sexual assault survivor and activist, Tarana Burke.
The purpose of “MeToo” is to empower sexually assaulted people through empathy and solidarity through strength in numbers, especially young and vulnerable women, by showing how many have experienced sexual harassment, especially in the workplace.
Following the exposure of numerous sexual-abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein in October 2017, the movement began to spread virally as a hashtag on social media.
On October 15, 2017, American actress Alyssa Milano posted on Twitter, “If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ‘Metoo’ as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem. A number of high-profile posts and responses from American celebrities Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Lawrence, and Uma Thurman, among others, soon followed”.
Widespread media coverage of sexual harassment, particularly in Hollywood, led to high-profile terminations from positions held, as well as criticism and backlash.
After millions of people started using the phrase and hashtag in this manner in English, the expression began to spread to dozens of other languages.
The scope has become somewhat broader with this expansion and Burke has more recently referred to it as an international movement for justice for marginalised people.
After the hashtag #MeToo went viral in late 2017, Facebook reported that almost half of its American users were friends with someone who felt they had been sexually assaulted or harassed.”
In a study, commissioned by the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM) and conducted by the Market Research Consultants, Tebbutt Research, it was found that one in five women have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace.
This means 20 per cent of all women interviewed agreed to have experienced some form of sexual harassment in the workplace. The number has decreased from the 33 per cent incidence recorded in a similar study conducted in 2002.
In 2002, FWRM asked Tebbutt Research to conduct a research on the incidence and nature of sexual harassment of women in the workplace.
Results of that study were widely used and assisted FWRM to lobby and advocate against sexual harassment in the workplace, and to provide input into a decision to adopt a broader definition of sexual harassment for legislation being developed at that time.
In June 2016, FWRM commissioned Tebbutt Research to update the findings by conducting a follow up study.
The core research objective was to replicate and update the key elements of the 2002 study, while incorporating some changes to make the project relevant to the 2016 workplace.
A study with 1000 women in paid employment was conducted in Suva, Nadi, Lautoka and Labasa.
The study asked the question, has the prevalence of sexual harassment in the workplace changed with the increasing number of women in the workforce and/ or with the increasing number of women in decision- making roles?
While the incidence of sexual harassment in the workplace in 2016 as compared to 2002 has decreased, the findings of the research point out interesting relations to Fiji’s economic development in past decade.
The food, beverage and hospitality sector (35 per cent) has the highest incidence of sexual harassment followed by public service (25 per cent), health (24 per cent) and retail (23 per cent) with education (8 per cent) sector being the lowest.
In the study, Nadi (35 per cent) was identified as the hotspot for incidences followed by Suva (19 per cent), Labasa (18 per cent) and Lautoka (11 per cent).
Younger women (25 per cent of under 30-year olds) and those women from iTaukei (29 per cent) are most likely to be harassed, as are casual (43 per cent) and part-time (30 per cent) employees.
Incidences are higher for women with these job requirements: serving members of the public; working on weekends; working at night; shift work; changing in and out of uniforms at the workplace; working on own in isolation; attending office parties.
Whatever the situation is, there is no excuse for sexual harassment and there must be zero tolerance. I do not believe that the ERP2007 goes far enough to ensure that women are not subjected to sexual harassment.
Also I suspect that women keep quiet as they are afraid that this can result in reprisal e.g. termination which would cause financial hardship.
A victim’s career trajectory is almost always negatively impacted, especially for younger women.
Their mental health is harmed even by verbal sexual harassment.
But they are almost compelled to tolerate this reprehensible behavior, Some employers tend to look the other way because the perpetrators may be senior managers who may be their grog buddies.
So their loyalty to their buddies makes the situation even more vulnerable to the female employees.
So the women tolerate this abuse and suffer in silence. I am sure it must be affecting their selfworth and self-esteem. Because of this, the statistics of sexual harassment done by the Tebbutt Research may not be entirely accurate.
There are many strong women leaders, but is enough being done to eliminate sexual harassment? I think not. I notice female employees being harassed and they just smile and go on as if that is acceptable behavior.
And if this is reported, the employers have a very convenient copout that they will provide more training.
How much training is needed to know that sexual harassment is unacceptable?
We can all help to end sexual harassment and assault: we can all believe survivors, and we can all support survivors.
But first, we need to recognise that survivors of sexual harassment are all around us, in many cases, they are us.
Let’s show perpetrators we have no space for them in our schools, our offices, our organisations.
This is why I feel strongly that a #Metoo movement is needed in Fiji. It is time every woman can go to work and feel safe and protected and is not subjected to sexual harassment. And the women and men in positions of power need to ensure that it never happens
ARVIND MANI is a former teacher who is passionate about quality education. He lived in the US for 35 years and was actively involved in training youths to improve their speaking skills. The views expressed are his and are not shared by this newspaper.