Sexual Violence in the Spotlight: Kesha & Jian Ghomeshi
As the separate high-profile trials involving former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi and musical artist Kesha concluded a few weeks ago, the lack of support and resources for victims of sexual violence has been brought into the spotlight. What’s more, the events following the outbreak of the scandal has also thrust an unlikely subject into the limelight: the workplace.
Following the outbreak of the Jian Ghomeshi scandal, the CBC’s conducted an internal inquiry about its workplace culture to evaluate its role in the crisis. The survey found that that management frequently failed to follow policies for complaints, and that almost half of employees thought their workplace was “psychologically unhealthy”. It also found that the CBC fostered a “host culture”, where star talent such as Ghomeshi were venerated and virtually immune to scrutiny. The CBC’s toxic work culture undoubtedly explains why Ghomeshi was able to avoid repercussions for his dangerous behaviour, which included harassment of an employee from his former show Q, for so many years.
Similarly, south of the border, another high-profile scandal involving sexual harassment in the workplace recently concluded. For those unfamiliar with the story about the pop singer Kesha, she had come forward in early 2014 about ongoing sexual, physical, and emotional abuse by her music producer, a well-established industry veteran known by the stage name “Dr. Luke”. She then became engaged in a long court battle with her music label Sony, as Sony refused her request to terminate her contract early for fear she would have to continue to work with her abuser. Unfortunately, the case ended recently with the verdict that Kesha could not pre-maturely terminate her contract.
These two cases of sexual violence under heavy media scrutiny highlight the need for a change in workplace and company attitudes towards violence, as well as better practices to help victims. Perhaps victims in both cases would have reported their abuse earlier in their careers if their workplaces had fostered a culture that made employees feel comfortable coming forward about mistreatment, and if their workplaces had widely-communicated support systems such as individuals trained to handle these cases. Problems of violence are exacerbated and prolonged if victims don’t know where to turn, know what resources were available to help them, or feel comfortable exposing their side of the story.
It is very important that companies not only draft such policies, but think about how to execute them effectively, to enable all employees to be actively aware of available resources, and to feel comfortable taking advantage of them. For tips about drafting your company policy.
**For a limited time, we are offering online training about “Domestic Violence in the Workplace” for FREE. This is an effective and affordable way to train all your employees about interacting with victims at your work, and prepare them for new policies you’re drafting.
