This article, from our new reporter Vivienne C. is based on two interviews with working women, one of whom is a busy lawyer. The Observer has agreed to grant both anonymity so that their experiences can be freely shared without the social media victimisation that sometimes follows success women.
Feeling The Pressure
Pressured between inadequate career development, toxic leadership, and sexual harassment, women often find themselves either breaking or adapting to an increasingly hostile environment in the city. This article was inspired by an incident I had witnessed on the streets. It made me question the normalization of violence in Haithian and how women, especially, work and conduct their daily lives under Hathian’s extreme conditions.
The questions led to a quest as I interviewed working women from different walks of life to share their experiences of the work place and how they view this phenomenon. I heard deplorable, yet sadly not shocking stories of rampant street harassment. Women were not being taken seriously at their work, or were being solicited for sexual favours. In daily conversations they were being made uncomfortable by unwanted sexual innuendo.
We are fast approaching the end of 2023, yet it seems a sizable number of the male sex lack an understanding of consent and mutual attraction.
Women have also spoken to me of bad leadership in their work space, where if not molested, they are overlooked and betrayed in promotion or rewards. Their work is credited elsewhere and they find little avenue for help in such cases.
When Women Raise Their Voices
Reporting of these issues including to the police, especially of cases such as sexual harassment, stalking, and rape are often not brought forward due to a fear of social or professional backlash and a less than understanding culture of the dynamics of such incidents displayed by our police department.
Working Women In Hathian Feel Unsafe
This piece does not address rape, which is a topic that requires an entire dedicated article however the issues brought forth regarding procedures and a lack of sensitivity would likely apply there as well. Untrained police officers who are treating potential victims with reprehensible aggression and unnecessary distrust.
It is as if an average woman in her daily life should plan about how she is going to spend her day at the police station to talk about the vulnerability of her body being violated. The Police treat her as a failed statistic already.
Working women have a right to walk to their jobs without being cat-called, or worse, followed and harassed. They have a right to work alongside colleagues without needing to be careful about their interaction lest they invite unwanted attention. They have a right to safe working spaces where they can develop their careers and contribute to society as they are meant to do.
I leave you reader to be critical of such behaviours when you see them, to not accept them, and to think of ways whether personal or professional as to how make change possible. Because this is not just an “issue of women” this is a Hathian cultural defect, which we ought to be fixing together and where we are so far behind on.
(The author of this article can be contact at their Observer e-mail via ((xsirwhateverx)) or in person if they’re around. The views and opinions are those of the author and not the Hathian Observer which notes women can be just as bad in Hathian as the men!)
