Gretchen Carlson confronts the harassment ‘epidemic’

NEW YORK Everywhere. Pervasive. Rampant.

An epidemic. Gretchen Carlson doesn’t mince words describing sexual harassment and assault in America in 2017. Sitting down with Carlson, it’s clear she’s meticulous. The former anchor is not one to say something for dramatic effect.

But an epidemic? Even after Title IX and Anita Hill and Bill Cosby, really?

Yes, she says. Really.

“I had no idea how pervasive it was, and I found it absolutely shocking that it’s an epidemic,” she says. “That in 2017, every woman still has a story.”

Carlson has a better understanding of the issue than most — not only from her personal experience with her landmark case against Roger Ailes, the late Fox News chairman and CEO, which resulted in his ouster and a $20 million settlement and apology for her, but because of the trove of information she has from the women and men who approached her with their own stories after news of her case broke in 2016.

“They kept coming in and coming in, and before I knew it, it was thousands of stories,” she says. “And what was so fascinating was that it was from every profession. It was from waitresses to bankers to teachers to accountants to flight attendants to oil rig operators.”

Carlson began printing out the emails and Facebook messages she received, which turned into stacks of similar stories that became the basis for her book, Be Fierce: Stop Harassment and Take Your Power Back, out now.

“All they wanted to know was that I heard them. Even if I just said ‘Be fierce’ or ‘Stay strong.’ ... They felt like I understood what they were going through, and they felt comfortable telling me. And they had never been heard before. Many of them never even told their husbands.”

That comfort in a shared experience allowed Carlson to gain valuable insight. She has drawn a few additional conclusions from the stories, including that women who reported a problem overwhelmingly were terminated or forced out after unsuccessful arbitration and never worked in their respective fields again.

She also gained understanding into why the problem has continued seemingly unabated. Her short answer: secrecy.

“For whatever reason, even in 2017, as a culture, we work so hard to cover it up.”

After leaving Fox News, the former Miss America turned her attention to removing the structures that keep such stories in the dark. One of her primary targets is forced arbitration clauses, which require employees to submit accusations in binding arbitration and waive their right to sue. She’s lobbying lawmakers of both parties on Capitol Hill to remove the backchannel nature of such clauses and allow complaints of harassment to be made more openly.

She also wrote a chapter in Be Fierce that’s a playbook of sorts for people now experiencing harassment. She details a 12-step process that includes suggestions on what type of documentation should be kept (everything), when to get a lawyer (immediately) and how to comply with company guidelines (to a T).

She’s also donating a portion of proceeds from the book to her non-profit Gretchen’s Gift of Courage fund. And she’s staging a year-long leadership initiative with a nine-city tour aimed at empowering women who have experienced discrimination and harassment with civic leadership and advocacy training.

She sees promise in the women who have come forward with allegations of abuse by Harvey Weinstein, calling it a tipping point. But how do we ensure lasting change?

“Jumping off a cliff,” she says, alluding to her own plunge into litigation, then advocacy.

“And showing people that when one person has immense courage, that it can be passed along. And I think that’s what we’re seeing now.”