It’s a part of the workplace experience most people don’t want to talk about: gaslighting, mobbing, or bullying at work that causes the subject to retreat, feel dejected and powerless, and targeted. The result is often that the subject of the bullying leaves the company, and their reputation is tarnished.
Women have been marginalized throughout the years in many aspects, especially when it comes to job opportunities. Some people think that females are not built for work because they lack the physical and mental strength. They fail to see that women have made history and shared in the success of many countries, so how are they still seen as unequal?
Earlier this month, the Boston Globe reported on a troubling study. The study, conducted by the University of Colorado, was looking to examine the longer-term impact of #MeToo, the campaign to expose sexual harassment, abuse, and predation which has overwhelmingly focused on harm by men towards women. While finding that women reported an overall decline in workplace sexual harassment, it also found that there was a growing uptick in plain old sexism.
I have been bullied both at school and at work, and I know of others who have suffered the same plight. It is not fun! Bullying makes people feel bad about themselves, leading to feelings of inadequacy, low self-esteem and even physical symptoms. The repercussions of bullying can cause people to miss school or work as well as countless other negative side effects.
As a mental heath clinician, I was fascinated by the podcast on NPR One last spring entitled "The Shrink Next Door" (produced by Wondery and Bloomberg) for several reasons. For one, it is an alarming story of betrayal and of a degraded mental judgment on the part of the patient that occurred in this day and age, this century, which is probably the main reason for most of the shock. However, I have to say that most shocking of all was the tepid response to Marty Markowitz' initial conclusive complaint and the many steps that he had to take to receive an appropriate interest into his remarkable story of psychological mistreatment and betrayal. His damning complaint took four whole years to review, and it was not even completed at the time of the story's broadcast. What's more, it appears that once the responding agency got wind of the media attention following the story's publication, their handling of the issue changed for the better — which is even more discerning and telling of American culture and its feckless systems.
I've worked in Human Resources for nearly a decade, and throughout all my roles, I've passionately incorporated diversity initiatives to help make companies more inclusive. Recently, many businesses have made public pledges around diversity in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests. Statements are one small step in the right direction, but much more needs to be done.
Let's take a page or two from Serena Williams' playbook, shall we? As the only female c-suite executive in a male-dominated industry, I am often asked by other women, in rather hushed tones, "How do I deal with the double standard?!" Invariably the phrase "I feel damned if I do, damned if I don't…" had a starring role in their inquiries.