LIKE restaurants,

malls or the outdoors, there are many places where the choice to stay or go elsewhere is entirely ours. Not so with our jobs and the workplace. Jumping from one job to another is just not that easy – if at all possible in such a depressed economy.

Still, if we are truly unhappy in our jobs or careers, we can go through the arduous process of finding something new. But it is simply untenable and a gross injustice if any woman is driven to this point because of sexual harassment in the workplace. And yet, it is a curse that a great many women have to endure to earn a living.

Sexist behaviour and sexual harassment are rife in the South African workplace. Considering that, on average, a person will spend one third of their lifetime at work, toxic masculinity is making life in the office a living hell that women can’t escape. Some men in powerful positions who have abused their authority have been brought down by people who #dontlookaway. But it is not just up to women and organisations to come forward to unmask these predators. Everyone, including and especially business and company leaders, should ensure that it is the sex pest whose working life becomes a living hell – that there is no place in the workplace for gender-based toxicity. Every company, every business, every public institution should have a strict policy in place against sexual harassment. If this is not so, or if there is a policy that is not vigorously enforced, then managers from the boardrooms to the shop floor need to step up or step aside.