A woman is angered by the male-dominated company where she works. Mariella Frostrup tells her to fight against its sexism and misogyny and make the world a better place for women and men
The dilemmaMy dilemma concerns my workplace. A few months ago I was followed out by a male colleague, harassed and called a slut as I left a drunken leaving do. I now no longer work with this man, but I’m not happy about attending social functions with the company due to his presence and the way his behaviour seems acceptable to the group generally. The sector I work in is rather sexist and male-dominated – one male colleague said I have been marked as “delicate” for the way I reacted by formally raising the “slut” incident, which angered me. How can I deal with this issue?
Mariella replies Only this week I sat in a women’s networking event as a roomful of mature working women, from their 20s to their 50s, complained about the level of misogyny they have to deal with, and that’s before they get home. I was shocked at how much a fabric of these women’s lives sexist abuse appeared to be and how many of them, otherwise able, robust and independent, felt intimidated about bringing it up with their HR department or “superiors” to be dealt with appropriately. The politics of the playground – bawdy humour, jostling for attention and elevated testosterone levels – appear still to be rife in the workplace, and whether you’re bullied out of your job, or lose it surreptitiously for not “appreciating” the “banter”, it’s much the same thing for the victim.
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