The office party: ‘On my way to the bar he grabbed my breast’

Laura had been working at a financial institution in Dublin for 20 years when a colleague sexually harassed her at an office party. It was 2008, and Laura had been working from home that day before making her way to the event, which was a going-away party for somebody she worked with.

She arrived at the venue, upstairs at a nearby bar, at about 8pm. Her harasser had only recently joined the company.

“The pub was packed,” she says. “He made comments a few times when I walked by. Then, when I was going to the bar, there was no room to move. He was standing in company, and when I was walking by, trying to get by him, he grabbed my breast. I went, “What the f**k are you doing?” and he went, “They’re lovely, aren’t they?” and he turned to one of the lads.

“I was on my way to the bar; I hadn’t even had a drink. I was completely shocked. I turned around and went downstairs and had a cigarette. A girl followed me down and said, ‘Are you all right?’ I said, ‘Why did he do that?’ And she said, ‘You know what he’s like.’ ”

Laura was concerned at first that it might have been her fault. “I said, ‘Do I give off that sort of vibe?’ And I was kind of saying, ‘Look at the top I’m wearing,’ and she said, ‘Stop.’ And I’m going, ‘No, was it something I did?’

“I came home and spoke to my husband, but I was embarrassed, because I’m very gregarious. Sometimes I can be too in-your-face. And I kept apologising, saying I wasn’t drunk, so he wouldn’t think I’d led him on.”

Laura’s story may be more common than we think. More than half of women in Britain have been sexually harassed at work, according to a recent study by the Trades Union Congress. But Ireland doesn’t keep similar figures, and the extent of the problem here is unknown.

Laura’s family advised her not to take the case further. Although there were several witnesses, and it was known within the company what had happened, she worried that reporting her harasser would affect her position and would follow her if she ever had to get another job. She challenged her harasser in a safe situation at work and warned him that if it ever happened again she would take the complaint further.

Lack of awareness

The director of the National Women’s Council of Ireland, Orla O’Connor, says a lack of awareness around workplace sexual harassment prevents women from reporting it and employers from fully acknowledging that it’s a problem.

“In 2009 the Equality Authority made the point that, while there has been legislation for many years now, it still is present and it’s difficult to report. And although there are guidelines for what employers need to do to put in support for employees, they’re often not known within the workplace.

“There certainly need to be much clearer procedures among employers. It needs to be highlighted that this has a significant negative impact on women within the workplace,” she says.

When Laura’s harasser targeted somebody else she contacted the chief executive of the company – who took no action.

About six months later the harasser was at another function. “He went over to one of my colleagues and put his hand up her skirt. Three of the lads intervened, pulled him outside. She wanted to keep it low key, because she was afraid of what her husband would think, of what other people would think,” says Laura.

“When I heard I was so upset with myself, because my failure meant that somebody else had to go through it. After that episode I rang the CEO and said, ‘Enough is enough. I’m aware that you know what happened to me, and I feel that I’ve let the women in the company down, because I didn’t do anything about it. What does it take? For him to rape somebody?’ ”

Although the company had a policy on sexual harassment and bullying, the chief executive said he couldn’t do anything about it and was unable to bar the perpetrator from attending work events.

“It was ‘Our hands are tied’,” says Laura. “How can you say that? This was the second time it happened. It’s very much a taboo, that’s what I felt – that they thought this would give the company a bad name.”

The perpetrator has since left the organisation where Laura works. But she describes sexual harassment as rampant in her sector. “It can be very subtle,” she says. “It’s a culture that’s there.”

Workplace sexual harassment

David Joyce, who’s an equality officer with the

Irish Congress of Trade Unions

, says that workplace sexual harassment may be as widespread in Ireland as it is in the UK. “We have no concrete figures on those levels, but equally we have no reason to suppose it would be very much different or even better than the worrying levels in the UK, as highlighted in the recent TUC report, which should be a source of major concern,” he says.

“We do know from previous work by the the Equality Authority that instances of such discrimination are very much under-reported here. Trade unions have an important role to play in supporting members to help ensure this practice is made unacceptable in our workplaces.”

O’Connor says the issue is something that women experience “throughout the workplace” but that women in low-paid jobs may be most vulnerable.

“What we know from working with women, particularly women in low-paid jobs or precarious work, is that they feel very uncomfortable about complaining, in case it would affect their employment. There are particular issues for certain groups of women. But it’s not just confined to particular sectors of employment. It’s something that women experience throughout the workplace.”

In spite of the anecdotal evidence of the extent of workplace sexual harassment, there are suggestions that it is a little-spoken about and rarely reported problem, particularly within workplaces. This also appears to extend to reporting to charities such as the Rape Crisis Centre and Women’s Aid.

The wide-ranging nature of services provided by these organisations is such that workplace sexual harassment is one of the lesser publicised of the issues they deal with, despite being fully equipped to do so. According to Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, 1.6 per cent of their 11,789 phone calls and 1.2 per cent of their 499 clients reported sexual harassment, but these figures were not broken down into instances of workplace sexual harassment.

Difficult to report

Laura says the reason it may be difficult to report or to take a case of sexual harassment is because of the potential repercussions, win or lose. “It follows you, and you are branded,” she says. “You’re then a bitch. You’re a formidable woman. Something that would be seen as a strong characteristic in a man changes when you’re a woman. It’s a negative connotation. That’s the reality of it. It’s put up or shut up.”

The emotional trauma of sexual harassment can be severe. Organisations such as Dublin Rape Crisis Centre can help women deal with it through their 24-hour helplines.

“When people call we can support them through the phone line, or if they need it they may also come in for individual, face-to-face counselling. That will hopefully deal with the trauma and upset, as the impact of sexual harassment can be really severe,” says the centre’s chief executive, Noeline Blackwell.

“In addition, when they contact the phone line the team will discuss with them where they might get the other support they might need, for instance from a trusted individual within their organisation’s HR department or union; where the organisation doesn’t have a structure to supply that support, the person will be directed to a Citizens Information centre, where there is a good range of information, and if the person needs it there is also usually a free service from Free Legal Advice Centres.”

Sexual harassment in the workplace falls under the Employment Equality Acts 1998-2015, a result of which is the Employment Equality Act 1998 (Code of Practice) (Harassment) Order 2012. This code is not legally binding, but it offers an easy-to-understand policy that organisations are encouraged to implement, according to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission.

Further information on what to do if you have been sexually harassed at work can be obtained from the equality commission and from Citizens Information. The Workplace Relations Commission can also investigate and mediate claims of sexual harassment in cases where the employer’s response is not sufficient.

“What we need in Ireland is to have some evidence on the issue, some data on the issue, because there is no report on this,” says O’Connor. “Then it is about how we increase the priority and the focus on it, as well as in terms of employers taking it very seriously. There needs to be a culture within the workplace that encourages and supports women to report.”

Laura says that education is the key to preventing sexual harassment in the workplace. “We need to educate our children,” she says. “Our sons and our daughters. The next generation has to realise that this is not acceptable.”