Mouvement pour l'Égalité entre les Femmes et les Hommes
Sexism at work : inseparable from harassment at work ?
Resources
In this section you will find different resources related to sexism in the world of work:
– Glossary of main concepts;
– Projects implemented in different countries to combat sexism;
– Legislations in France and Belgium and some international standards;
– And our information booklet about gender-based violence at work.
The literature concerning the prevention of psychosocial risks (RPS) at work is abundant. Within this set, initiatives and tools specifically targeting sexual harassment and gender-based violence (GBV) at work only represent a small part. In fact, these phenomena are still often lumped together with other RPS. As a result, they are not systematically studied from a gender perspective, in particular by institutions responsible for occupational safety/health prevention and by external prevention services. The latter occupy the closed market for training in prevention of RPS and work accidents. They offer employers a wide range of training and workshops, access to which is of course protected, as we mentioned in the introduction.
The international #MeToo movement, however, has left its mark. Following the Weinstein affair, cases of sexual harassment at work shook the media across Europe. Public authorities have been led to strengthen legislation under pressure from civil society and citizens1. The world of higher education and research has also been affected and many establishments have had to review their codes of conduct and intervention
protocols with students, teachers and researchers.
Meanwhile, unions and other civil society organizations did not wait for #MeToo. Indeed, they have been carrying out actions for a long time: information and awareness campaigns, various initiatives and tools to combat sexual harassment, GBV and more generally sexism in professional life. These actions are open to everyone and are characterized by a global approach to these phenomena. This is an approach consistent with that found in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women , the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Istanbul Convention and the recent C1902 Convention.
In addition, the availability of multimedia tools to combat sexual harassment at work still seems timid at present in Europe3. We will highlight the establishment of the webinars of the European ESHTE project/It Stops Now campaign. Some applications for smartphones and tablets have been developed to combat workplace harassment, street harassment and cybersexism4. Their approach is more
specialist because they specifically target one aspect of the phenomenon.
In light of the initiatives and tools that this report identifies, we can affirm that the MOOC Enterprise project responds to a lack in the provision of tools to combat sexual harassment at work. MOOC Entreprise indeed offers a complete, open, free, dynamic course for tablets and smartphones, based on a gender analysis as well as a global approach to prevent and treat this phenomenon. It will reach all those who do not receive adequate professional training on the management of these specific PSR, or who currently benefit from training on gender-blind PSR.
1 2017, the year of #MeToo, also coincided with the first reports to GREVIO.
2 C190 has not yet been ratified by any United Nations member state.
3 It is especially in the United States that applications have been developed to allow victims to report a situation of sexual harassment, such as #NotMe, Blind, Vault Platform, Spot, STOPit Solutions, WorkShield, etc.
4 For example: RespectMe, 365Rapunzel, HandsAway, #JeSignale referenced on the platform
