Beverly, You signed on February 10, 2012. Your signature has been delivered to: Department of Labor and President Obama
Finally we all have a pipeline to tell our stories and ask for respect and dignity in the workplace. Here’s what I told them:
Many of us have experienced the devastating consequences of this abuse first hand. Some, like myself, were lucky enough to move on. Far more do not. No one should ever be subjected to a hostile work environment.
For years advocates have been trying to pass workplace bullying legislation in Vermont. Last year, SB.52 started as yet another attempt to re-introduce the Healthy Workplace Bill (aka Abusive Work Environment Act). But, this time something happened. Instead of dying in committee, the language was completely struck and totally rewritten to ensure that lawmakers look into all possible approaches before adopting legislation that will impact both employers and employees throughout the state. (After all, isn’t that what our elected officials are supposed to do?) The Senate wants a task force created to determine the best way to provide relief and redress for state residents suffering in abusive work environments. The new version of SB.52 became very active and passed the Senate. If it makes it out of the general committee and is passed through to the Governor’s desk, the task force’s findings could create a landmark moment for those of us who would like to see bullying legislation become a reality. Continue reading
This year our most popular posts continue to cover a wide range of topics and issues related to workplace bullying. We continue to focus on our mission to critique and offer new voices and alternatives to the current dialogue. Two 2010 posts ( about Mediation & OSHA ) are still extremely popular. Here’s a recap for 2011: Continue reading
Here’s what Abby L. Ferber had to say in this excerpt of her Huffington Post article about the issue:
So why do women most often bully other women? Because they are rarely in positions of power over men. According to the article [NY Times, Backlash: Women Bullying Women at Work:
“After five decades of striving for equality, women make up more than 50 percent of management, professional and related occupations, says Catalyst, the nonprofit research group. And yet, its 2008 census found, only 15.7 percent of Fortune 500 officers and 15.2 percent of directors were women.”
In addition, women are more likely to work in careers and workplaces that are primarily populated by other women. Men, on the other hand, wield power in the workplace over both women and other men.
Instead of examining the larger dynamics of power at work here, the article focuses on women as a group, asking why they bully other women.
We are left with numerous problematic conclusions:
Women’s relationships with each other are problematic and women need to learn to better support each other.
Women are the problem themselves, and they are becoming too much like men as they move into positions of power.
Bullying itself is not a gendered phenomenon, men bully men and women bully women, so we are all affected by it.
Bullying by men is natural, and not in need of examination. We should expect that kind of behavior from men.
Looking at the exact same data, however, informed by an understanding of how the dynamics of gender and power operate, a very different story can be told.
The reality is that:
Bullying is about power, and people bully those they have power over.
Bullying increases when people feel their power threatened.
Our unequal gender system contributes to the problem of bullying because it reinforces the idea that some people should naturally have more power than others; that men are by nature more aggressive, and women should be more nurturing and supportive.
And bullying in the workplace contributes to economic inequality between men and women. As this study makes clear, bullying is a very serious problem, with real consequences: 40% of the time, the target ends up quitting her job (remember, most targets are women). So bullying is a tool to maintain inequality.
The way in which the story of the data is told by the New York Times ends up hiding the real problems and blaming the victims. If our analyses are not informed by research and analyses of gender and power dynamics, we end up contributing to the problem, rather than developing real solutions.
OUR BULLY PULPIT 