Topic: Workplace Sexual Harassment
Country: France
Delegate Name: Colin Davidson
School: Mattawan High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All France position papers GLIMUN 2018 committees
Sexual harassment in the workplace has existed for as long as women have worked and continues to endure even today. Sexual harassment can take many forms including verbal harassment, physical harassment, and cyber-harassment. Surveys have found that 81% of women experience some form of sexual harassment in the workplace. What’s worse is that 80% of women who experience harassment never file a complaint. This is due to fear of retaliation. These numbers are too high to ignore. Sexual harassment can lead to stress, anxiety, and depression. Women should be encouraged at work not put down. Limiting sexual harassment would lead to much more productivity in the workplace because women would feel more comfortable and more confident. This is an issue no country can ignore. Unfortunately, looking down on women has existed in human cultures for many years. Since it was preached for so long, it isn’t easy to eliminate. This is a problem no country can ignore. Every nation sees sexual harassment, France included. We must work to eliminate this dreadful aspect of our workplace.
As a leader of the Western world and the EU, France looks to set a good example for others to follow. France ranks 9th in the world in the Gender Inequality Index and 16th in the Global Gender Gap Index. This is up from being ranked 45th the year before. French lawmakers recently passed a law which fines people for sexual harassment anywhere. This law had was first used when a man was fined 300 euros or $350 for verbal sexual harassment on bus. These are the steps that need to be made to reduce sexual harassment in the workplace. All countries must take this matter seriously. We have made steps to make women more comfortable in the workplace, but harassment still exists in FRance and in other countries, France supports reform for the rights of women in the workplace. We demonstrated that when we supported the formation of this very committee.
Recognizing the severity of the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace, France believes certain steps should be made to increase comfort and confidence for women in the workplace. Cracking down on the transgressors of harassment isn’t enough. The very culture of many of our societies must change. Of course, we should instill harsher punishment for sexual harassment. In France we instituted fines for anyone committing sexual harassment. Perhaps this is too light a punishment. This line is open for debate. Many women are afraid to talk about their experiences of sexual harassment in fear of retaliation by the company. We should create an anonymous tip bank within our governments to make speaking out easier. Many companies fear lawsuits and reputation tarnishing from sexual harassment cases. Perhaps maybe we should make punishments harsher on the individual perpetrators but less severe on the companies themselves to encourage disclosure of information. Whatever it is something must be done.
