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On her way to becoming the show’s surprise feminist heroine,
Joan Holloway Harris of TV’s Mad Men endured
more than her share of workplace sexual harassment:
She was coerced into sleeping with a client to secure her
professional future and was the target of endless crude commentary,
catcalls and innuendo. Once, a co-worker even sketched her
likeness in a suggestive cartoon and posted it on the office bulletin
board.
It’s 50 years later, and while the presence of women in the workplace
isn’t the cultural upheaval it was in Mad Men-era 1960s, it’s
clear – given the headlines, the number of calls to help centres
and the steady march of cases in tribunals and courts – significant
change happens very slowly.
There’s been progress, certainly. Sexual harassment has been
prohibited in Canada by human rights legislation since the 1980s
and workplace victims of this behaviour can pursue a legal remedy
through the human rights process. This past March, the Ontario
government published its Action Plan to Stop Sexual Violence and
Harassment, as well.
Culturally, we’ve had a gradual awakening, too. A majority of
Canadians understand what workplace sexual harassment looks
like, and they understand there are consequences for those who
harass and for employers who let it happen.
Reading the headlines over the past year or so, however, might
make someone wonder just how far we’ve come. On Parliament
Hill, for example, in late 2014, federal Liberal leader Justin
Trudeau launched an investigation into the alleged sexual harassment
of two female MPs by two male MPs. In the past four years,
hundreds of women have come forward and joined a class action
suit against the RCMP, claiming rampant sexual harassment within
that organization. Allegations of runaway sexual harassment in
the restaurant business made headlines for much of the first part
of 2015, as well. And, of course, in the fall of 2014, sexual harassment
(and assault) allegations against celebrity CBC radio host
Jian Ghomeshi were front-page news for months on end.
HRPATODAY.CA ❚ OCTOBER 2015 ❚ 17