Violence against women in the workplace? Yes, also there

By Monica Flores

Although we are saturated with news of violence against women, paradoxically, we have not made more visible the violence that is exercised in the labor context.

Violence in the workplace is difficult in many ways, but the first thing that is difficult is to identify and recognize it. There is a lot of talk about sexual harassment and it seems that it is the only way to violate someone in the workplace. This is not the case.

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), workplace violence is defined as any unreasonable action, incident or behavior by which a person is assaulted, threatened, humiliated or injured by another person in the course of or as a direct consequence of his or her work.violence in the workplace takes different forms and sometimes it is very difficult to know what is present. Of course, violence can be from men towards women, from women towards men, from women towards women, from men towards men, but on this occasion, I will concentrate on violence towards women.

The typology of violence is presented in an ascending, horizontal or descending manner in the organizational structure: discriminating, humiliating, threatening, intimidating, invalidating, ignoring, labeling, that is violence.

I will exemplify:

• Discriminate against a woman for access to opportunities to occupy a higher position or lead a project.
• Paying a woman a lower salary for the same work just because she is a woman.
• Ignoring a woman's opinions or invalidating her views.
• Minimize their achievements.
• Undermine their confidence with destructive opinions about their performance or physical appearance.
• Ignoring their presence and opinions within a work team.
• Assigning care tasks to a woman without them being part of her responsibilities, just because they are "women's" activities.
• To question a woman's professional capacity "because she is a woman" is weak.
• Attributing a woman's behavior to the idea that she is "going through her days," "menopausal," pregnant, or emotional.
• Ridiculing a woman's ideas or way of working.
• Assigning excessive workloads to a woman.
• Preventing a woman's access to certain roles.
• Imposing nicknames or nicknames to refer in a derogatory manner to a woman or making misogynistic jokes.
• Assign gender stereotypes: must be thin, flawless and "look pretty".
• Do not invite her to networking events "because she should be at home".
• Call her by adjectives (queen, pretty, beautiful, cool...), not by her name or title.
• Biased interviewing by making filters with questions such as: who takes care of your children, do you plan to get married soon, do you plan to have children, will your husband give you permission to travel?
• Request certain sizes or measurements in order to apply for a job.

Shall I continue?

Let's be clear: it is not the intention that counts here. Intention does not justify. What matters is how our behavior makes others feel.

If we still lack reasons to fight against this type of violence, let's see what it costs us:

• Low productivity.
• Absenteeism.
• Rotation.
• Accidents.
• Projects that fail.
• Distrust in leadership and demotivation.
• Detrimental to labor relations.
• Emotional and psychological damage to people.
• Poor working environment.
• Deterioration of the employer brand.

Not knowing how to recognize that one is facing a situation of violence makes it difficult to deal with it.

We need:

• Lead by example at all levels of the organization.
• Awareness campaigns: because we should all be aware of our violent actions and avoid them.
• Reporting channels: Formal processes are needed as many women fear reprisals when talking about these issues and do not know how to report it or to whom.
• Professional-psychological support: to detect and know how to handle violent situations.
• Policies that prevent and sanction: make them known to all and, when necessary, take exemplary measures.
• Talking about talent regardless of gender.

Eradicating workplace violence is a shared responsibility and a common interest. We need healthy work environments so that all people can maximize their talents.

It seems that many have not sufficiently understood that women are half of the population, that we are capable, that we are prepared, that our well-being matters and that our talents make great contributions to business and society.

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