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Francis Mupazviriho

Earlier this year, I wrote about sexual harassment at the work place in an article which appeared in The Herald.

The idea was to locate December’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence, in the context of the work setting.

A revisit of the subject of sex, harassment (note the terms have been intentionally separated) and its general link with power, money and morality, or lack thereof is warranted especially against Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s hearing and later, his recent confirmation to the Supreme Court, after a 50-48 cloture vote in his favour.

The vote confirmed Kavanaugh after a publicised hearing in which sexual allegations were brought by Professor Christine Blasely Ford, who recounted an incident in the 1980s when Justice Kavanaugh attempted “to remove her clothes while placing his hand on her mouth”, opening and reigniting a spectre of sexual impropriety at an event which occurred when both were still in high school.

Two other women, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick also made similar allegations.

While time cannot trump the need for justice especially when handling allegations of a sexual nature, the Kavanaugh case is quite interesting considering the allegations raised and the subterfuge of the case, whose motive was to thwart Kavanaugh’s ascendancy basing on allegations of a sexual failing, which had to be heard.

This explains why President Trump weighed in on the saga, even resorting to calling the Justice’s accusers “paid professionals”, just as Trump has done on his sexual shenanigans or anything else which he doesn’t agree to, quite of referring it as fake news.

But the complexities of this case do not undo the fact that allegations of sexual harassment are quite a serious matter which have to be addressed through the laid out channels of law.

Quite often issues of sexual harassment are located as a negation of women’s rights and disempowerment, like we saw with Trump’s campaign trail where the media replayed his rabid remarks towards women and his indiscrete actions against the fairer sex, something which drew the ire of feminists and of course America’s Christian Community.

Earlier on in May, Oxfam was sucked in a mega sexual exploitation scandal involving its staff in Haiti, in the process opening a huge moral disaster in the humanitarian sector.

So grave were the allegations that even its Chief Executive Mark Goldring had to step down following the staff’s moral failing in a humanitarian hotspot which demands service, dedication and integrity especially in engaging with vulnerable groups such as women and children.

There is a central role of power dynamics in sexual harassment.

Power is often measured in financial terms of having money, or the clout to direct things to move in a particular way. When abused, we end up having quid pro quo relations.

Most of the times, those with the power end up abusing it and quite often, we end up having sex as a commoditised tool for social relations.

Young women often have stark choices of being subservient to power or rebutting advances much as this is quite difficult to do.

We saw this some seven years ago when the former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Straus Khan (DSK) was accused of sexual harassment by a hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo.

The proof was insurmountable especially after foreign examinations which matched DSK’s semen found on the young women’s shirt.

Like the Kavanaugh case, which women organisations are charging at the Republicans endorsement of the “fake” FBI Probe into the matter, the DSK case was mired in an apparent politicisation towards Diallo, the Guinean migrant who had a “lowly” job but whose case ultimately led to the resignation of one of the world’s previously powerful men.

The act of disclosing the incident was touted as bravery, especially considering the kind of ordeals which women go through at the hands of superiors and at times even their relatives.

While prominent cases see the light of official media due to vested political interests and at times character assassination plots at such convenient times, it is quite evident that such problems are quite endemic in different settings and to people of different social standings.

It is important to appreciate the causes of harassment in general terms. Again it is incisive to understand the legal, moral, social and economic complexities which define social relations between the victim and the alleged aggressor.

Apart from abuse of power which I hinted earlier on, there is the problem of limited opportunities such as employment, which often provide a ripe ground for harassment.

This is why it is hard to believe that one can simply get a job “without doing anything” these days.

One female colleague shared her ordeal of having dropped her resume at several places and quite often getting sexual advances by one man who was at the recruitment desk.

Either one simply succumbs by paying pound for flesh.

A commoditisation of sex from the start becomes the basis of one’s preferential treatment and is often handy for climbing the ladder of promotions and at times even getting opportunities to trips and so on.

This has contributed negatively to our perception of women in the corporate divide.

When we get a female leader, who is doing so well and climbing the professional ladder, we often ask who is backing her.

When she shows her intelligence and aura of problem solving, we rather end up prying for her marital history to just see the man who is behind her.

The problem of sexual harassment not only affects the victim but the entire society whose worldview is negatively changed.

Then there is poverty and related issues of low renumeration.

Most of the time these workers are hard pressed, having obligations to pay fees for children, transport costs, rent and so on.

While the natural route is to augment one’s earning’s through honest means which we commonly call “projects”, this is quite often not the case, especially these days.

For some time, this writer ran an attractive desk which had a substantial amount of travel.

Due to the limited opportunities, this writer often got numerous phone calls and office visits by some pestering female work colleagues who wanted consideration for the hard to come by opportunities.

While of course this does not constitute sexual harassment, it provides a latent basis of the ripe conditions for quid pro quo arrangements depending on the extent of the gain.

Most of the times the recipient of a favour feels obligation to thank the benefactor who glosses with an entitlement culture and a propensity for abusive arrangements which have been the bane to our society.

At least this writer did not see and convert the opportunity. Then there is the issue of morals.

These days, there are a lot of easy-going relations which at times turn sexual and of course with the parties having agreed and often being married for that matter.

This was unlike in the past when the work relationships with those of the opposite sex were platonic.

Back in the day, this writer’s late father made it a point that we knew his work colleagues including the female ones whom I still refer to as aunts while my mother became their daughter in law.

Such scenarios are very few these days. A lot of our young women no longer fear to have arrangements with elder men. In fact, such scenarios are regarded as manna from heaven.

Then lastly, there is the problem of perceptions. Men can equally be victims of sexual harassment in general, at the work place.

However, the act of a female superior making sexual advances to a male subordinate is not read as a form of harassment. In fact, this would not be news at all in the media.

In our patriarchal society and its masculine settings, there is only one way of fixing such a small problem.

When the male victim reports over such, he becomes the subject of derision, for his perceived tomfoolery.

It is evident that issues relating to sex and harassment must be understood in terms of power dynamics.

The problem simply has to be understood in terms of its basic causes.

Regarding the prominent cases, there are often a lot of competing interests which end up being defined in terms of sexual indiscretions at times.

Francis Mupazviriho is a journalist by profession. He writes in his personal capacity. Feedback [email protected]