When collecting her award for the best player in UEFA, Aitana Bonmatí said it loud and clear: “As a society we must not allow there to be a abuse of power in an employment relationship or disrespect. To all the women who suffer the same as my partner Jenni Beautiful, we are with you & rdquor ;. This is yet another example that Luis Rubiales’ kiss to one of the World Cup winners has put on the table not only that any non-consensual sexual act is sexual assault, but also that in the labor sphere he is still very present sexist harassment, despite the fact that all companies with more than 50 workers must have anti-harassment protocols and this matter should form part of occupational risk prevention.
Many companies, especially the smaller ones, They do not have an equality plan. despite being a legal obligation for those with more than 50 employees
However, most of the companies, especially the smaller ones, They do not have an equality plan. as denounced by active and passive unions. And, of those that do comply with the legal requirement, half have not integrated into it a specific protocol against sexual harassment, as verified at the beginning of the year by the consultant and ETT Adecco, which analyzed 300 equality plans and some 150 lacked of measures to resolve cases of harassment internally, despite being a legal obligation.
Therefore, practically only large companies, small companies but concerned about equality, and public centers have anti-sexual harassment protocols. “It is not a problem of the law, the law is excellent, the problem is that the companies they have to comply with it& rdquor ;, he concludes Cristina Antoñanzasdeputy general secretary of UGT.
The fear
In addition, no matter how many protocols exist, victims continue to have fear to denounce and that this implies “the dismissal, that they do not believe them and turn against them and affect them professionally, or change their destination& rdquor;, adds Antoñanzas. Few report within their own companies, bringing the case to the attention of Human Resources or one of their superiors. And fewer still are the victims who take the step of presenting a criminal complaint.
Despite being a widespread phenomenon, there are no data that allow us to know its dimension, only demographic studies, such as the 2021 macro-survey on violence against women, which indicates that the 40% of the Spanish has suffered sexual harassment and, of them, one in five in the workplace. And a European study carried out with 70,000 interviews in 36 countries confirms that women suffer three times more sexual harassment at work than men and men health professionals, business and customer service employees are the sectors with the most cases.
40% of Spanish women have suffered sexual harassment, one in five in the workplace and the sectors with the most cases are health, sales and customer service employees
The problem, as with other sexist violence, is that in many cases the victims lack evidence and if there is companions who have witnessed sexist innuendos, humiliation or touching, few dare to testify in against his boss or a partner, underline Joana Badia Rionlabor lawyer of the Ronda Collective.
“Companies should investigate ex officio if they are aware of a case, even if the victim does not want to start the process”
labor lawyer
Another of the stones in the road is that “sometimes the business protocols transfer the responsibility of reporting to the victim, when the companies should investigate ex officio& rdquor ;, if they are aware of a case, even if the victim does not want to start the process out of fear or other reasons, according to Badia.
lack of training
And, in the criminal sphere, “the problem is that there are judges who ask for certain recurrence or severity in bullying & rdquor; to convict the accused, when the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court “indicates that there is no need for repetition, with a single attitude of harassment, it is enough to be considered a crime & rdquor ;.
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Faced with this situation, many victims, in order to stop suffering from sexist harassment, ask the low and if the harassment continues in their reinstatement, they generally go to the social jurisdiction “to be able to leave the company with a compensationBecause they don’t care what happens to the harasser, what they want is to leave the company.”
In fact, scientific evidence indicates that workplace and sexual harassment has an impact on the mental healthcauses stress, insomnia, anxiety, exhaustion and carries a risk of depression.