What the Hell Do We Do About it?

3/10/2017

Vol 12, Issue 10

CRISTABEL GEKAS

The other day, a friend and I were discussing the usual banalities of law student life. Keeping up with readings. Balancing work and study. At some point in the conversation, probably after I noted the concerning level of masochism we were both displaying, my friend informed me that her work as a barrister’s assistant had become a drain on her studies and social life. Essentially, her boss was an entitled dickhead, although I think she used a less abrasive term.

Cartoon by Lily Hart, a first-year JD student

I pressed for details. Some days before, she had printed out her academic transcript in the office. Said dickhead (FYI, he’s a white man) quipped, “Are these really your results? Are you actually intelligent, or have I hired an axe murderer who is trying to fabricate her grades?” He’d also made a remark about her intelligence on another occasion. “You did very well in undergrad, I suppose, but you did do an arts degree. You did do a lot of soft subjects, like gender studies.”

We eventually came to the conclusion that she should ride it out for a couple of months, long enough to get a reference or the experience at least. The job probably wasn’t worth sacrificing her wellbeing. But the rent had to be paid, and it was still a good opportunity.

It goes without saying that this wasn’t the first time I had heard stories of workplace shame, embarrassment or harassment from a female peer. Such experiences are so commonplace that I’m no longer surprised when I do hear of them. Whilst we both agreed such behaviour was petty and disappointing, it was all too familiar to say that we were shocked.

I can hear some of you chiming in now. “What did you expect? He’s a barrister. Hell, that’s what he’s paid to do.” Well, my initial response would be, “since when does a license to practise entitle you to be a chauvinist pig?” My second response would be, “you’ve got a point. A little bit anyway.”

And so, dear reader, I find myself in a bit of a pickle. I should say, first of all, that I am not advocating for complacency or laxness in our behaviour toward workplace harassment. Quite the opposite, in fact. But, I do want to draw attention to a perennial dilemma facing women in the workplace, to which there are no easy answers.

Two things are not up for debate. A) Women still face appalling levels of workplace harassment from their male colleagues. B) This type of behaviour is unquestionably, without a doubt, never okay. But what do we actually do about it? Where do we draw the line with this type of behaviour? When, if ever, do we just suck it up?

I think it is all too easy to say that women should be strong and defiant, and simply stamp out harassment when it arises. But unfortunately, the ubiquity of workplace harassment against women renders the problem far more difficult than “making our concerns known” to peers or colleagues. If I called out a customer, client or colleague every time I was made to feel uncomfortable, belittled or degraded, I would, to put it plainly, be out of a job.

Take the example of the dismissal of Amy Tauber, a twenty seven year old journalist for Seven News. Tauber made complaints against an older male colleague for, among other things, commenting on her appearance and making disparaging remarks about her marital status. She was subsequently dismissed from duty immediately and without notice, for allegations of bullying a fellow cadet that had not been made known to her before.

Tauber’s experience brought to light the continued pervasiveness of the harassment and humiliation faced by women in the workplace. It was an important and timely reminder that despite all the positive developments, damaging cultural attitudes continue to put young professional women on the back foot. And so, we’re left with the nagging, unresolved question: What the hell do we do about it?

It’s clear that we need cultural change. Deep, far reaching cultural change that probably warrants another De Minimis article. But in the meantime, young women entering the workforce are still left in a precarious position. Do we just “lean in” and join the boy’s club, or do we make a stance? How do we strike a finite balance between being forceful and fitting in with the workplace culture? Because I’m a mere mortal, I cannot answer these questions here. But, I do encourage all of you, with what limited mental faculties you may have in week ten, to seriously consider what sort of workplace culture you’d like to be a part of when you enter the workforce. I’ll leave just leave this prompt about *cultural change starting with you!* here…

Cristabel Gekas is a first-year JD student

The rest of this issue:

FYI I'm a white man

3/10/2017 12:50:08 pm

"Said dickhead (FYI, he’s a white man) quipped, “Are these really your results?"

Thank goodness you cleared this up. We were all absolutely desperate to know the race of this person as though it was somehow relevant to his behaviour. Gotta uphold those good old fashioned racial profiling standards.

Really?

3/10/2017 08:26:45 pm

Is that really all you got out of this article? It's a whole piece about women's experiences in the workplace and the most outrageous part to you was five words in brackets?

Says more about you than the person who wrote the piece to be honest.

Thanks for the article Cristabel. I often notice how my female colleagues are constantly questioned and having to justify themselves whilst me and other men in the firm do not. Hopefully the next generation of lawyers can bring about some cultural change.

Macro-Aggressor

3/10/2017 08:58:36 pm

Micro-aggressions cut multiple ways don't they. It sure is a pity you can't slip subtle racial slights into your work without somebody calling you out on it.

FPOC QC

3/10/2017 08:43:13 pm

“You did very well in undergrad, I suppose, but you did do an arts degree. You did do a lot of soft subjects, like gender studies.”

There's no denying that it's easier to do well in an arts degree with 'soft' (qualitative) subjects found in a gender studies/criminology/literature major than it is in, say, an engineering or commerce degree with 'hard' (quantitative) subjects. I was the only female POC in most of my Biomed classes and the gender studies breadths I took were undoubtedly easier.

It's not that easy

3/10/2017 09:13:38 pm

I get what you're saying, but at least with most commerce or science subjects there is a 'right' answer

My biggest gripe with arts (I did a crim and politics double major) was how subjective it was. All of our assessments were essay based, and because the content was so political it became obvious in some subjects that you should write to your tutors political leaning. As objective as they try to be, they often also have strong views and will obviously have a degree of bias against papers they don't agree with.

More importantly though, crim and politics had a lot of students in them and the bell curve was intense.

Bell curve + subjectivity + all essays/no right answers = not as easy as you would think to get a h1

I think it's redundant to compete on who was marked harder or how hard it was to do well across undergrad degrees, and frankly, comparing engineering to arts is comparing apples to oranges. Both have their advantages and disadvantages- doesn't mean one was a walk in the park over the other

Arts

3/10/2017 10:20:58 pm

I think it depends on what comes naturally to you as much as the subjects themselves. I got marks in my biology, psychology and neuroscience breadth subjects that I couldn't dream of getting in my arts subjects (including gender studies courses). But maybe I just chose the wrong undergrad degree!

3/10/2017 08:50:50 pm

why do you care what he thinks about your results? can't you see he's only insecure about his own? his own abilities and worth?

good people do not criticise others. if they do it, they only do it in private. people who can't help themselves are usually insecure, insensitive to reality, poor judges of character.

let it go. learn to suck up to idiots like him and suck as much of the good stuff as you can. it will take you further than making enemies. if that doesn't work - leave.

3/10/2017 08:53:10 pm

there are laws protecting workers anyway. if anything shit happens you can sue.

a lot worse can happen. eg. I have a boss who throws folders at me when she doesn't like something. watches me around the office. squashes me in the corner (she's a planet sized lesbian - can I say that, it's true)

just get over it. in essence.

I majored in gender studies for a time

3/10/2017 09:47:59 pm

Full disclosure, it was my best subject. It's easy as shit.

That said, it doesnt excuse the end result was a feeling of harassment. "it's just banter bro" a common and seemingly benign refrain, but isn't that what the bully saus when the victim fronts to the teacher. Just a prank they cry as a victim commits suicide or changes schools. The same can be true of the workplace.

I don't mean it's entirely man on woman, women are well bitchy to each other. But where does it start? It starts with comments the perpetrator already know are inappropriate, thus they mentally gear up a banter defence.

I hope people reading this will one day go and be nicer to workmates in the office, man or woman alike.

Laura B

3/10/2017 09:53:04 pm

Great article. Really pleased you wrote it.

Just going to leave these hints on how you can be part of that cultural change here:
- The union movement is the leading advocate for women's rights at work. (http://www.unionwomen.org.au/)
- Unionism works when industries have an active and committed membership base.
- As a lawyer and paralegal your union is the Australian Services Union (ASU).
- Taeuber is a member of MEEA (the union for Journalists) and was represented by them as well as lawyers.

Indeed

4/10/2017 09:17:50 am

If you want to stand up for your rights at work as a woman, joining a union is essential.

Alana

3/10/2017 09:53:06 pm

Cristabel I loved this article and it is truly great that you can still be so thoughtful and articulate in week ten. Here's my evidently inarticulate two cents.

I think it is an unfortunately bad attitude for young women to have, that we see every legal experience we get in law school as an absolute honour, despite how toxic and degrading the environment might be. Please tell your friend, on behalf of someone who has also worked in this kind of workplace, that she has made the right choice. If she doesn't see it now, she eventually will and she will be all the more grateful for it.

Another friend

3/10/2017 10:10:35 pm

Thank you for writing this Crista. As someone who also works in a toxic work environment, it is good to be reminded that the behaviour I am experiencing is not normal. Sometimes you get so caught up in wanting to do a good job that you begin to believe that you are the problem, when in reality, it is the person you are working for. It is so helpful when people just listen to you explain what happens at work and for them to say 'that's not right' or 'that's not normal' because it reminds you that you aren't oversensitive or crazy- it's just genuinely messed up.

Yujie

3/10/2017 10:52:07 pm

Absolute great piece of article. It's always some reallistic problem to face in a workplace. The degrading comments or harassments themselves are already harmful, the dilemmas women struggle with after those make it even worse.

At risk of rage

4/10/2017 10:53:22 am

What was so gendered about that barrister's comments?

He sounds like a very rude guy, however those comments could be delivered to any other employee of his with exactly the same dismissive meaning toward grades

Written by a gal

4/10/2017 07:45:50 pm

I have to disagree with the fundamental premise of this piece as linked to the remark made by the barrister.

Were his remarks an appaling form of bullying ? Yes.

Were they somehow inherently sexist? No. They just happened to be directed towards a female student at that moment.

If you want to deal with the issue if workplace bullying, be my guest. But please don't employ gender where it simply does not exist or holds no relevance to the point in question.

All forms of bullying shouldn't be tolerated.

Lily

7/10/2017 05:03:28 pm

Ughhhh it's such a waste of time that commenters feel the need to debate whether or not women are specifically targeted and harassed in the workplace. This-is-a-well-established-and-supported-fact.

I am looking forward to seeing how long it takes for a bro to hit back at this comment and say 'well where's the evidence sexism exists in the legal industry?!' Seeing as you're not prepared to value the writing of the women who submitted this article I don't feel like doing your research for you only to have it disregarded. It'll take you a few seconds to do a search in discovery.

Other women- please leave your internalised misogyny at the door.

Comments are closed.