Good Riddance to Times Past

I recently attended sexual harassment training as part of our company's required training for all its employees. This particular training session provided an excellent overview on the current state of the law with plenty of examples of what not to do, some of which--like warnings about complimenting colleagues on their appearance--were met with incredulity and comments that reflected disdain for the litigious nature of our society and political correctness generally, and sympathy for how expensive it is to run a business. While I could appreciate those comments, I had a slightly different perspective having been in the workforce longer than most of my fellow trainees. I could remember what the workplace used to be like before sexual harassment had a name.

When I started working after college back in the mid-1970s, women in executive positions were few and far between; there were plenty of women at work, but they were usually in clerical positions such as secretaries. Many of my colleagues in the entry level professional ranks were young women, but they weren't expected to be around long because they presumably would just get married and leave. Plus it was always assumed they were support staff, and they were always being asked to fetch coffee or make copies at meetings. They often were not paid as much as their male counterparts because it was assumed they didn't need as much money since their husbands would be the main breadwinners. The term "sexual harassment” had barely entered the lexicon as either a legal concept or as a way of describing improper behavior. Back then bosses dated their secretaries, and sleeping with the boss as a way to get ahead wasn't merely a tasteless joke but for some the only way to obtain job advancement.

What a difference a generation makes. The workplace environment I remembered is, I think, largely unimaginable now. While business was opposed to the creation of the right to sue for sexual harassment some 30 years ago, no one but the most unreconstructed male chauvinists would now deny the greater benefits from increased workforce diversity that have resulted from the breaking down of doors and smashing of glass ceilings, especially in this tight labor market. The process of achieving this evolution in the workplace has not been without its costs to business, but at this point they should be minimal except for those who fail to realize that it's much cheaper to train employees how to prevent sexual harassment than to defend even just one claim.

Despite the concerns about litigation costs and political correctness, no one in the training seemed to doubt that sexual harassment itself was inappropriate behavior. This is not the same as saying that gender equality has been fully achieved, but it is a sea change compared to how things were "back in the day.” I don't doubt either that the playing field will continue to be leveled: my daughter Emily will be graduating from high school in June, and neither she nor any of her girlfriends have ever been harassed or told that they cannot do something because they're girls. Heaven help anyone who ever tries.

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