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Category: Sexual harassment

  • Ofsted’s report reveals what every teenage girl already knows. That rape culture is everywhere.

    A report published by Ofsted on 10 June has revealed that sexual harassment has become “normalised” for children and young people in schools. Although many expressed ‘shock’ at the report’s findings, others pointed out that the prevalence of sexual abuse in schools should come as no surprise.

    Sexual abuse in schools

    Ofsted’s survey included over 900 children and young people in 32 UK schools and colleges. The report found that approximately 9 in 10 schoolgirls recalled sexist name-calling and being sent unwanted explicit pictures and videos. Ofsted found that children often don’t report incidents of sexual harassment due to “fear of social exclusion by peers” and concerns “about how adults will react, because they think they will not be believed, or that they will be blamed”.

    The inspectorate also found that teachers and school leaders “consistently underestimate the scale of these problems”, and that relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) does not sufficiently prepare children and young people to navigate these issues.

    Highlighting the report’s key findings, Ofsted’s head of strategy Anna Trehtewey shared:

    Scale of the problem

    Ofsted launched its review after campaign group Everyone’s Invited published thousands of testimonies from children and young people detailing their experiences of sexual harassment and abuse. Revealing the scale of the problem, the group has published the names of the 2,962 UK schools that children and young people mentioned in their testimonies.

    Everyone’s Invited founder Soma Sara said:

    The schools we should be worrying about are the schools not mentioned on Everyone’s Invited.

    She added:

    Some school heads have told their pupils not to share their testimonies with Everyone’s Invited. Why are some headteachers silencing survivors? Why is the reputation of institutions being prioritised over victims of rape and sexual abuse?

    No surprise here

    Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman said:

    This review shocked me. It’s alarming that many children and young people, particularly girls, feel they have to accept sexual harassment as part of growing up. Whether it’s happening at school or in their social life, they simply don’t feel it’s worth reporting.

    However, the report’s findings should not come as a surprise to anyone who listens to children and young people’s voices and experiences. Indeed, young people have been campaigning to challenge patriarchal school norms. For example, in March, Highgate School pupils staged a protest in opposition to the institution’s “rape culture”. And King’s School pupils revealed a school uniform policy which required girls to kneel on the floor to measure the length of their skirts. As head of the NSPCC Peter Wanless highlighted, this report demonstrates that young people’s voices must be at the heart of initiatives to prevent sexual abuse and harassment in schools. 

    Highlighting the Department for Education’s inaction on the issue of sexual abuse in schools, Jess Philips tweeted:

    Sophie Walker shared:

    Leanne Wood added:

    Harriet Shearsmith shared:

    As Shearsmith points out, the normalisation of sexual harassment and violence in schools is a symptom of our patriarchal society. Our scope for transformation must be society-wide, not just focused on individual schools.

    Time for change

    Ofsted has set out a number of recommendations for schools, colleges, and the government. It recommends that school leaders “should develop a culture where all kinds of sexual harassment are recognised and addressed”. The inspectorate’s recommendations to the government include developing new guidance for children and young people, and launching a campaign to educate young people, parents, and carers about sexual abuse.

    Trethewey shared:

    Calling on the government to implement change, The End Violence Against Women Coalition tweeted:

     

    Ofsted’s acknowledgement that sexual abuse in schools is an issue is only a first step. The inspectorate’s recommendations for change are disappointing, and the secretary of state’s promise to keep funding the NSPCC helpline just doesn’t cut it. In order to create schools in which young people are safe and secure, school leaders must implement radical transformations. So we must now hold Ofsted, the Department for Education, and school leaders to account and ensure that we see real and lasting change.

    Featured image via bantersnaps/Unsplash

    By Sophia Purdy-Moore

    This post was originally published on The Canary.

  • Angry male student mob targets media over UPNG sexual abuse protest

    By Charlie Dumavi in Port Moresby

    Women students at the University of Papua New Guinea silently suffering from persistent sexual harassment and abuse in the vicinity of the Waigani campus have become as national issue with a protest leading to a clash with media.

    The issue was brought to public attention when a woman student was held up by a group of about 10 male students in front of the Toluan female dormitory when a male student grabbed her butt and her breast.

    Her friend posted on Facebook condemning the sexual harassment. The post was shared and attracted much criticism of male students of UPNG.

    Women students then staged a mini peaceful protest at Waigani campus with the media invitated to show their frustration about the treatment from a minority of male students. They also wanted the administration to address the issue.

    Some male students attempted to prevent the protest from happening and the media from reporting it.

    UPNG Student Representative Council (SRC) women’s vice-president Nancy Poglau, leading her fellow students during the protest with tears yesterday, cried out to the student body and the administration that the issue had been faced by female students for many years.

    “We want to address this issue. We want our voices to be heard. We came to UPNG because of our knowledge and why are you harassing us?” she asked.

    “Most male students don’t harass females on the campus but those few who are doing this — please see us as your sisters and mothers.

    “We must put an end to this issue.”


    The UPNG protest meeting today. Video: Michael Kabuni


    Angry mob attacks media
    The forum was interrupted by an angry mob of male students that verbally insulted and attempted to physically harass media workers comprising a journalist, camera man and photographers from several media organisations.

    The media workers were chased on foot by a group from UPNG’s Forum square to the new Student Services office.

    University security and administration staff were present but were overpowered by the mob.

    The mob demanded the media not give coverage to the issue, saying that it was an “internal matter” and would be dealt with by the UPNG administration.

    The media workers left the scene without harm.

    Charlie Dumavi is a PNG Bulletin journalist.

    Some 'good men' students
    A placard displayed by women students shows not all male students at UPNG harass female harassing female students on campus. Image: Charlie Dumavi/PNG Bulletin

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Male students at UPNG attack media for reporting on sexual harassment

    By Jemimah Sukbat in Port Moresby

    A group of male students attacked the media covering a harassment protest by female students at the University of Papua New Guinea today.

    The rowdy group said they did not want the media to report on an issue of sexual and physical harassment by males, claiming it was an “internal matter”.

    Media personnel were made aware of the protest that was to take place on campus.

    They showed up to capture what the female student protesters wanted to addressabout the continuous harassment by some male students.

    After the female students had marched from the Games Village into the university’s Forum square, a group of rowdy male students also entered the area and charged angrily at journalists, cameramen and photographers, demanding that they leave.

    Members of the governing University Council were present, but were outnumbered and were unable to contain the clash as it escalated.

    The frustrated male students said the media did not need to be there to cover an issue that could be solved internally.

    Media personnel were unharmed.

    The PNG Media Council is expected to release a statement condemning the attack.

    Jemimah Sukbat is a reporter for Loop PNG.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Charities warn over ‘frightening’ plan to put plainclothes police in nightclubs

    Scheme distracts from rightful criticisms of police response to Clapham vigil, campaigners say

    Plans to protect women by putting plainclothes police officers in nightclubs are bizarre, frightening and “spectacularly missing the point”, campaigners and charities have said.

    The plans were outlined by the government as part of the steps it was taking to improve security and protect women from predatory offenders. Called Project Vigilant, the programme can involve officers attending areas around clubs and bars in plainclothes, along with increased police patrols as people leave at closing time.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Cuomo Has Worked to Protect Himself, Not New York’s People, Says State Senator

    Cuomo Has Worked to Protect Himself, Not New York's People, Says State Senator

    New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is refusing to step down despite growing calls for his resignation after multiple accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct, as well as his cover-up of thousands of COVID-19 nursing home deaths. Alessandra Biaggi, a New York state senator representing parts of the Bronx and Westchester, says it’s long past time for Cuomo to go and that the many scandals surrounding the governor reveal a consistent pattern. “The governor has not only abused his position of power, but he has used it in a way that is political and as a way to have the executive branch essentially protect himself and not the people of New York,” says Biaggi.

    TRANSCRIPT

    This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

    AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

    New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is refusing to step down despite growing calls following multiple accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct, as well as his cover-up of thousands of COVID-19 nursing home deaths. Both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand have called for his resignation.

    SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND: Because of the multiple credible sexual harassment and misconduct allegations, it’s clear that Governor Cuomo has lost the confidence of his governing partners, as well as the people of New York. That’s why I believe that the governor has to resign.

    AMY GOODMAN: President Biden, who’s a longtime friend of Cuomo’s, has yet to weigh in. He said the investigations should be allowed to happen.

    We’re joined by New York state Senator Alessandra Biaggi. She is a Democrat who represents parts of the Bronx and Westchester, one of the first lawmakers to call for Cuomo’s resignation.

    So, there are six women who have accused him of sexual misconduct, and then you have the nursing home scandal of the thousands of undercounted deaths in nursing homes. State Senator Biaggi, we had you on talking about the issue of sexual harassment and assault many months ago. What are you demanding now?

    SEN. ALESSANDRA BIAGGI: So, I mean, thank you for having me, and good morning.

    You know, I think, just zooming out for a second, the totality of the circumstances here are not, frankly, for the faint of heart. I mean, the details of the growing sexual harassment allegations and the nursing home death cover-up, as you’ve mentioned. We also have reports about the governor’s vaccine czar calling county officials to gauge their loyalty to the governor with regard to whether or not a county will receive vaccines. All of this, collectively, and other things that I haven’t mentioned, reveal a same and similar underlying issue and pattern, which is that the governor has not only abused his position of power, but he has used it in a way that is political and as a way to have the executive branch essentially protect himself and not the people of New York.

    And so, I am calling for Governor Cuomo to resign. And I also — just, you know, pausing for a second — there are many of us, of course, who are calling for the governor to resign. It does not mean that the governor is going to resign, as I’m sure that the public watching can see. And so, if the governor does not resign, I do believe that the next step has to be starting the process for impeachment. Now, I’m sure also that many people are hearing what I’m saying and thinking to themselves, “Well, I thought that the Assembly actually did start the articles of impeachment or did start he impeachment process.” The Assembly started an investigation through their Judiciary Committee, which is not the same as drafting the articles of impeachment. In fact, there is only one other example in the entire United States history where an investigation begins before the articles of impeachment are drafted. In fact, the investigation piece is actually for the Senate. And so, I do think that is the next prudent step because of what is in front of us in terms of our responsibility as lawmakers and elected officials.

    JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, Senator Biaggi, I wanted to ask you the — you worked for a time in the governor’s office. Could you talk about your own experiences in that workplace? And you’ve also said that you haven’t met a person in New York City politics who has a good relationship with Andrew Cuomo. Why is that?

    SEN. ALESSANDRA BIAGGI: So, I did work for the governor. I worked in his executive chamber right after coming off of the 2016 election, thinking, like many people, that I was going to join an administration that was going to be this progressive beacon of New York and do a lot of good to push back against the Trump administration. Not only was I wrong, but I entered an administration that was part of this culture of fear, of toxicity, of berating people, of yelling at people. Many people that were surrounding me and my colleagues, in things that I personally experienced, were just constantly living day to day in a state of fear and intimidation.

    And not only was that, in and of itself, sufficient to think that that is a workplace that not only is toxic, but also abusive, there was a lack of progress happening. So, that behavior and that pattern of abuse by the governor and his top aides is something that actually leads to bad governance. And so, you know, when I look back now, thinking about just what was possible at that time, there was so much more that New York could have done, and yet we were stopped because of the governor’s obsessiveness, frankly, with controlling everything around him. And so, there was not an email that went out the door without his approval, or a press release that went out the door without his or his top aides’ approval. And you might think that that’s a very normal way to operate an office, but when you have an office full of very ambitious, smart people who want to do their job and serve the people of New York but are prevented from doing so because there is one person who wants to have all of the control, you soon find that you cannot actually do your job.

    JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And in terms of those who say that the governor should be given the benefit of having an actual investigation verify these allegations, what do you say to them?

    SEN. ALESSANDRA BIAGGI: Well, you know, the governor is guaranteed due process under the law, of course. But calling for the governor to resign is absolutely not a judgment about his liability for any alleged criminal acts that we’re talking about here. The formal investigations, right now there are several of them. There are two federal investigations, two for nursing homes — the FBI and the EDNY, Eastern District of New York — and then there’s the attorney general’s investigation with regard to the sexual harassment, assault and misconduct claims. Those are all allegations that can continue to move forward, and should continue to move forward. But there is a very stark difference between investigations, that may lead or end in criminal charges, and the question of confidence in our political leadership.

    And that’s why I continue to stand by my call for the governor to resign, especially, again, in this moment that we are in, which is not a moment to take lightly. We are in the midst of budget. We are about to start planning for the recovery of the state of New York. We have a $16 billion deficit. There is a lot of work to do. And I think what we are hearing in the days — as each day goes on, is the governor saying, “We have work to do. We have to get back to work,” as if all of the things that we’re describing here are a distraction that he doesn’t want to think about — and I’m sure that he doesn’t want to think about it. But the point is that these are distractions that have been created because of the behavior of our governor. And the rest of us want to get back to work to be able to do our jobs.

    AMY GOODMAN: Do you think that Governor Cuomo, in his hatred for Mayor de Blasio, and also the kind of pressure he’s under now as de Blasio calls also for him to resign, is actually shortchanging the city, de Blasio said, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of vaccines? And do we see this in other places in New York? And also, you shared text messages with New York magazine showing the kind of harassment that one receives, particularly you, from his aide, Melissa DeRosa, who’s often at his side. And just remember, we have to abide by FCC rules on not expressing curses on the air.

    SEN. ALESSANDRA BIAGGI: Yes, I will surely not repeat the curse words of members of the governor’s administration, so you have my word on that.

    Listen, I think that when we listen to what de Blasio was saying about shortchanging the city, that’s not something that’s an anomaly. It’s not unusual. In fact, the governor’s decisions about how he governs are very political. He oftentimes makes decisions based on those who are loyal to him. So, you know, the stories coming out about his vaccine czar calling people, calling county executives, and trying to gauge their loyalty about their relationship to the governor, and then decisions being made about vaccines, it’s not an unusual thing for those of us who have been working in New York state government under this executive administration. But it’s also not acceptable, because —

    AMY GOODMAN: We have 10 seconds.

    SEN. ALESSANDRA BIAGGI: Sure — to make decisions based on politics in a moment where we can save lives is outrageous. And so, you know, I think that there is a lot of work to be done here, and I think that this is a governor who’s not able or fit to do it.

    AMY GOODMAN: Alessandra Biaggi, New York state senator representing parts of the Bronx and Westchester.

    And that does it for our show. Democracy Now! produced with Renée Feltz, Mike Burke, Deena Guzder, Libby Rainey, Nermeen Shaikh, María Taracena. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. Remember, stay safe. Wear a mask.

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Protecting Kids from Abuse

    For years, the Pentagon mishandled sexual assault cases involving kids living on military bases, until an Associated Press investigation jolted lawmakers into action.

    Reporter Holly McDede brings us to Berkeley High School in California, where students were fed up with what they saw as a culture of sexual harassment and assault among their peers. 

    Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

    This post was originally published on Reveal.

  • For this Filipina journalist, every day is a battle with fear – and defying silence

    Women journalists, feminists, activists, and human rights defenders around the world are facing virtual harassment. In this series, global civil society alliance CIVICUS highlights the gendered nature of virtual harassment through the stories of women working to defend our democratic freedoms. Today’s testimony on International Women’s Day is published here through a partnership between CIVICUS and Global Voices.

    By CIVICUS in Manila

    There has been a hostile environment for civil society in the Philippines since President Rodrigo Duterte took power in 2016. Killings, arrests, threats, and intimidation of activists and government critics are often perpetrated with impunity.

    According to the United Nations, the vilification of dissent is being “increasingly institutionalised and normalised in ways that will be very difficult to reverse.”

    There has also been a relentless crackdown against independent media and journalists.

    Threats and attacks against journalists, as well as the deployment of armies of trolls and online bots, especially during the covid-19 pandemic, have contributed to self-censorship—this has had a chilling effect within the media industry and among the wider public.

    One tactic increasingly used by the government to target activists and journalists is to label them as “terrorists” or “communist fronts,” particularly those who have been critical of Duterte’s deadly “war on drugs” that has killed thousands.

    Known as “red-tagging” in the Philippines, this process often puts activists at grave risk of being targeted by the state and pro-government militias.

    In some cases, those who have been red-tagged were later killed. Others have received death threats or sexually abusive comments in private messages or on social media.

    Rampant impunity means that accountability for attacks against activists and journalists is virtually non-existent. Courts in the Philippines have failed to provide justice and civil society has been calling for an independent investigation to address the grave violations.

    Filipina journalist Inday Espina-Varona tells her story:
    ‘Silence would be a surrender to tyranny’

    The sound of Tibetan chimes and flowing water transformed into a giant hiss the night dozens of worried friends passed on a Facebook post with my face and a headline that screamed I’d been passing information to communist guerrillas.

    Old hag, menopausal bitch, a person “of confused sexuality”—I’ve been called all that on social media. Trolls routinely call for my arrest as a communist.

    But the attack on 4 June 2020 was different. The anonymous right-wing Facebook page charged me with terrorism, of using access and coverage to pass sensitive, confidential military information to rebels.

    That night, dinner stopped at two spoonsful. My stomach felt like a sack with a dozen stones churning around a malignant current. All my collection of Zen music, hours of staring at the stars, and no amount of calming oil could bring sleep.

    Strangers came heckling the next day on Messenger. One asked how it felt to be “the muse of terrorists”. Another said, “Maghanda ka na bruha na terorista” (“Get ready, you terrorist witch”).

    A third said in vulgar vernacular that I should be the first shot in the vagina, a reference to what President Rodrigo Duterte once told soldiers to do to women rebels.

    I’m 57 years old, a cancer survivor with a chronic bad back. I don’t sneak around at night. I don’t do countryside treks. I don’t even cover the military.

    Like shooting range target
    But for weeks, I felt like a target mark in a shooting range. As a passenger on vehicles, I replaced mobile web surfing with peering into side mirrors, checking out motorcycles carrying two passengers—often mentioned in reports on killings.

    I recognised a scaled-up threat. This attack didn’t target ideas or words. The charge involved actions penalised with jail time or worse. Some military officials were sharing it.

    Not surprising; the current government doesn’t bother with factual niceties. It uses “communist” as a catch-all phrase for everything that bedevils the Philippines.

    Anonymous teams have killed close to 300 dissenters and these attacks usually followed red-tagging campaigns. Nineteen journalists have also been murdered since Duterte assumed office in 2016.

    Journalists, lawmakers, civil liberties advocates, and netizens called out the lie. Dozens reported the post. I did. We all received an automated response: It did not violate Facebook’s community standards.

    It feels foolish to argue with an automated system but I did gather the evidence before getting in touch with Facebook executives. My normal response to abusive engagement on Facebook or Twitter is a laughing emoji and a block. Threats are a different matter.

    We tracked down, “Let’s see how brave you are when we get to the street where you live,” to a Filipino criminology graduate working in a Japanese bar. He apologised and took it down.

    Threat against ‘my daughter’
    After I fact-checked Duterte for blaming rape on drug use in general, someone said my “defending addicts” should be punished with the rape of my daughter.

    “That should teach you,” said the message from an account that had no sign of life. Another said he’d come to rape me.

    Both accounts shared the same traits. They linked to similar accounts. Facebook took these down and did the same to the journalist-acting-as-rebel-intel post and page.

    The public pressure to cull products of troll farms has lessened the incidence of hate messages. But there’s still a growth in anonymous pages focused on red-tagging, with police and military officials and official accounts spreading their posts.

    Some officers were actually exposed as the masterminds of these pages. When Facebook recently scrapped several accounts linked to the armed forces, government officials erupted in rage, hurling false claims about “attacks on free expression.”

    This reaction shows the nexus between unofficial and official acts and platforms in our country. It can start with social media disinformation and then get picked up by the government, or it leads with an official pronouncement blown up and given additional spin on social media.

    Official complaints
    We’ve officially filed complaints against some government officials, including those involved with the top anti-insurgency task force. But justice works slowly. In the meantime, I practise deep breathing and try to take precautions.

    Officials dismiss any “chilling effect” from these non-stop attacks because Filipinos in general, and journalists in particular, remain outspoken. But braving dangers to exercise our right to press freedom and free expression isn’t the same as having the government respect these rights.

    Two years ago, journalist Patricia Evangelista of Rappler asked a small group of colleagues what it could take for us to fall silent.

    “Nothing,” was everyone’s response.

    And so every day I battle fear. I have to because silence would be a surrender to tyranny. That’s not happening on my watch.

    Inday Espina-Varona is an award-winning journalist from the Philippines and contributing editor for ABS-CBNNews and the Catholic news agency LiCASNews. She is a former chair of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) and the first journalist from the country to receive the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Prize for Independence.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Belabored: Changing a Culture of Harassment

    Rita Pasarell, former Albany legislative staffer and co-founder of the Sexual Harassment Working Group, discusses recent accusations against Andrew Cuomo.

    This post was originally published on Dissent MagazineDissent Magazine.

  • Indian journalist acquitted of defamation in #MeToo case

    A court in India has acquitted a journalist of criminal defamation after she accused a former editor-turned-politician and junior external affairs minister of sexual harassment.

    MJ Akbar, 70, filed a case against journalist Priya Ramani in October 2018, denying the allegations as “false, baseless and wild”.

    Ramani was the first to accuse Akbar of harassment, spurring on more than 20 women to come forward and allege similar accusations during his previous career as one of the country’s most prominent news editors.

    More than a dozen accusations

    Akbar resigned a few days later from his post as a junior external affairs minister in 2018, becoming one of the most powerful men to step down in India’s #MeToo movement at the time.

     The court in New Delhi said on Wednesday that “even a man of social status can be a sexual harasser”, and that the “right of reputation can’t be protected at the cost of right to dignity”, according to the legal news website Bar and Bench.

    The string of allegations against Akbar began with a tweet from Ramani in October 2018 in which she said he was the man who had harassed her in an article she wrote for Vogue India the previous year. She had not named him in that article.

    More than a dozen women, mostly journalists who worked with Akbar or interviewed with him for jobs when he was an editor, then accused him of sexual harassment.

    A welcome result

    Ramani welcomed the court’s judgment. She told reporters:

    My victory will empower more women to speak up. This will make powerful men think twice before they drag other people to courts.

    Namita Bhandare, a journalist and close friend of Ms Ramani’s, told The Associated Press:

    She spoke up, she has not been afraid of standing in court and answering all the questions – she hasn’t swayed once.

     Akbar’s influence

    Akbar, who has consistently denied all allegations, first served as a politician in India’s then-ruling Congress party between 1989 and 1991.

    After that, he edited the Telegraph, The Asian Age and other newspapers and wrote several non-fiction books, becoming one of the most influential people in Indian news media.

    In 2014, he joined the now ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and was appointed its national spokesman. In 2016, he joined the ministry of external affairs as its junior minister.

    Supreme Court lawyer Karuna Nundy said:

    This victory is important because a powerful person with all the legal resources at his disposal took the most draconian route – he filed a criminal case against her, not civil.

    So this win has a strong salutatory effect. It opens up a greater space for telling the truth and not to fear legal bullying.

    A pivotal moment

    Ramani’s allegations were a pivotal moment in the #MeToo movement in India, which picked up pace in 2018 as a spate of actresses and writers flooded social media with allegations of sexual harassment and assault.

    Frustrated over an anti-harassment law that activists say has done little to change the status quo, women took to social media to lament a system that they say has failed to hear them.

    The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act of 2013 holds workplaces liable for sexual harassment and prescribes a system for investigating and redressing complaints.

    The movement has helped bring awareness to the legislation, according to Nundy. She said:

    Many more companies in the organised sector have put in anti-harassment committees and more are aware of this law now.

    But she cautioned that more work needed to be done to tackle harassment in formal and informal workplaces.

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on The Canary.

  • Call for AUT vice-chancellor to resign after scathing report into bullying

    By RNZ News

    A senior academic staff member at the Auckland University of Technology wants the vice-chancellor to resign following a scathing report into bullying.

    The independent review heard more than 200 complaints of bullying and found evidence of sexual harassment by eight former staff.

    It said some employees had been so severely affected they had been forced to take stress or sick leave, and had cried during interviews.

    The independent review, commissioned by AUT, was prepared by Kate Davenport QC.

    The staff member quoted on RNZ Morning Report, who RNZ agreed not to name, said there was a culture of bullying at the university.

    “When I was enquiring about the head of another school, and who that person was, and you know, just out of curiosity really, and the answer I got from one person was, ‘oh that person’s all right, she’s very easy to shout down’.

    “Meaning that if you have a disagreement with that person, if you raise your voice they back off.”

    Culture affected decision-making
    The culture had also affected wider decision-making, said the staff member, because senior leadership were used to ignoring problems.

    That had become evident when the university announced it would restructure the academic year into shorter course blocks because of covid.

    This was despite early warnings the changes would not work.

    “You can’t do block courses when you have a whole load of people, how can I put it? A whole load of people already signed up to do a course.

    “Then you’re going to change, their weekly courses to block, there will be too many timetable clashes for this to be marginally practical.”

    Despite these early concerns being raised by staff, the university went ahead before backtracking amid a student outcry, said the staff member.

    Bullying had been highlighted in a number of past surveys, but AUT had ignored them “so it isn’t coming out now, it’s been happening for quite a long time,” they said.

    “You don’t get a working culture this impregnated with a bullying managerial style overnight. It takes a few years to develop.”

    Accountability needed
    The staff member said the only way AUT would ever change its culture would be to ensure some level of accountability.

    “And the people that are at the top, that have been ignoring this for so long probably need to be stood down or replaced…”

    “I would say that includes the vice-chancellor, I would say that includes a number of people in human resources that have ignored complaints, and I would also think that many of the deans would need to be looked at.”

    In a statement released with the report, AUT Vice-Chancellor Derek McCormack said he and the university’s council accepted the findings.

    “In response to these findings, on behalf of the university and personally, I want to apologise to all those past and present who have been subjected to bullying or other forms of harassment,” he said.

    “As a university, we should have done better and my commitment as vice-chancellor is that we will do better starting today.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Worker at H&M supply factory was killed after months of harassment, claims family

    Fashion brand to investigate the death of 20-year-old Jeyasre Kathiravel, reportedly killed by supervisor at Natchi Apparels

    The family of a young garment worker at an H&M supplier factory in Tamil Nadu who was allegedly murdered by her supervisor said she had suffered months of sexual harassment and intimidation on the factory floor in the months before her death, but felt powerless to prevent the abuse from continuing.

    H&M said it is launching an independent investigation into the killing of Jeyasre Kathiravel, a 20-year-old Dalit garment worker at an H&M supplier Natchi Apparels in Kaithian Kottai, Tamil Nadu, who was found dead on 5 January in farmland near her home.

    Related: Racism is at the heart of fast fashion – it’s time for change | Kalkidan Legesse

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Working Through the Pain at Tesla

    After being called out for hiding worker injuries at its factory, Tesla decides to double down. Plus, a report card on diversity in Silicon Valley.

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    This post was originally published on Reveal.

  • #MeToo: Rape on the Night Shift

    The #MeToo movement has swept from Hollywood to Capitol Hill. The careers of powerful men ended as women spoke out against workplace harassment and assault.

    On this episode of Reveal, we look at what happens when the people involved aren’t celebrities or powerful. We team up with KQED, the UC Berkeley Investigative Reporting Program, FRONTLINE and Univision to investigate sexual violence against female janitors.

    They usually work alone at night and that isolation can leave them vulnerable. A lot of them are immigrants, some living in the country illegally.

    Plus, we talk with an investigative editor for The New York Times who helped steer the coverage that toppled Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.

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    This post was originally published on Reveal.