Former Fox News Anchor and commentator Gretchen Carlson filed a sexual harassment suit against CEO Roger Ailes alleging that her contract was not renewed because she refused Ailes’ sexual advances. Carlson also alleged that the harassment she endured was severe and “very pervasive”, that Ailes repeatedly “injected sexual and/or sexist comments” into conversations and made “sexual advances.” Finally, when she told him last fall to stop, a preventative measure women are often urged to take, Ailes is alleged to have responded, “ I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you’d be good and better and I’d be good and better.”
Carlson’s lawsuit contains the following additional allegations:
- She tried to complain unsuccessfully about how male colleagues, including Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy treated her.
- Doocy “engaged in a practice of severe and pervasive sexual harassment of Carlson, including, but not limited to, mocking her between commercial breaks, shunning her off air, refusing to engage with her on air, belittling her contributions to the show, and generally attempting to put her in her place by refusing to accept and treat her as an intelligent and insightful journalist rather than a blond female prop.”
- Following her complaint about Doocy, she was removed from the popular morning show Fox & Friends and relegated to a less desirable 2:00 p.m. time slot.
- Ailes referred to her as a “man hater” and told her to “get along with the boys.”
This is not a story from the 1970’s; this is a story from this week. It also comes on the heels of a June 2016 report issued by an EEOC task force which concluded that workplace sexual harassment training initiatives are often ineffective in stopping misconduct. “Much of the training done over the last 30 years has not worked as a prevention tool,” the EEOC commissioners wrote, adding that “ineffective training can be unhelpful or even counterproductive”. The clear message of the report is that the most common trainings are designed to minimize legal risk to companies rather than change behavior in supervisors or employees. “Sexual harassment training protects organizations, not employees” according to Berkeley Law Professor Lauren Edelman.
Carlson is not a young innocent ingénue; she is a 50 year old professional woman, a graduate of Stanford University and someone who has reached a coveted spot in her chosen field by hosting a program on a national news network. Even though she is constantly referred to in the media as a former Miss America, she has done quite a few things with her life since.
What do Carlson’s suit and the EEOC’s report tell us about today’s workplace for women? Maybe that we haven’t come as far as we thought we had. Assuming Carlson’s allegations to be true, and it should be noted that they are currently being vigorously disputed, it signals the need for careful reexamination of workplace culture, expectations and action. Those of us who devote a large percentage of our professional work lives to risk management and training, need to take the initiative to develop programs which will help to shift workplace culture and truly influence the way people treat each other. Perhaps even more important, employers must not only invest in training, they must “walk the walk.” Employees need to feel that they can trust management to act when they report that bad things happen to them, rather than to stand in fear of retaliation. Supervisors who protect employees who breach policy need to held accountable for what they are doing (or not doing).
What does Gretchen Carlson say about her lawsuit?
“Although this was a difficult step to take, I had to stand up for myself and speak out for all women and the next generation of women in the workplace.” You’ve come a long way baby, but you still have a long way to go.