BREAKING THE SILENCE ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT

The issue of sexual harassment has burst into the open in recent months as a growing number of women across the country have shared graphic and painful stories of abuse, assault and other inappropriate workplace behavior by male leaders, colleagues and others. The stories have exposed an insidious and systemic culture of abuse that women—across all industries and representing all socio-economic groups—have felt powerless to confront because of shame, embarrassment, fear of retribution, and legitimate concerns that their careers would be jeopardized, among many other reasons.

Time Magazine this week honored a handful of women as its “Person of the Year” for their courage in making their stories public, shining a light on the issue and empowering other women to come forward. Dubbed “The Silence Breakers,” this group of five women included Adama Iwu, a top government relations executive for Bay Area Council member Visa.

Iwu in October co-founded We Said Enough, a group that is working to expose a culture of abuse and harassment in California government and hold accountable perpertrators and enablers. More than 140 women, including legislators, penned an oped in the Los Angeles Times that announced “we’re done with this” and calling on both women and men to join in finding solutions. The Council applauds the courage and actions of leaders like Iwu in breaking the silence on sexual harassment. Through our Gender Equity Committee, we have been working with member companies to get more women into higher positions of leadership, address issues of gender bias and develop policies and practices for creating workplace cultures that take a zero tolerance stance against all forms of sexual abuse and harassment. To learn more about the Council’s gender equity work, please contact Policy Director Emily Loper.