Two women victims of sexual harassment by their superiors at their workplace, in the public and private sectors respectively, and a woman who was assaulted by her doctor, shared their stories with Phileleftheros and expressed their frustration with the fact that their employers treated their complaints with hostility or indifference.
They also express disappointment that the competent extrajudicial mechanisms, as well as the police, did not deal promptly and effectively with their cases, which have been pending for a long time, with all that this implies for their mental state and their health in general.
The three complainants are among the few women in Cyprus who have reported the sexual harassment they suffered, especially in the workplace, since the vast majority of women victims, for various reasons, keep it quiet. As Dr Anna Pilavaki, president of the Hypatia Foundation Promoting Equality, said in a speech on sexual harassment, “Evidence shows that victims are often dissatisfied with the results of their complaints and experience some form of retaliation, loss of employment or re-victimisation”.
He added that “most women do not report sexual harassment because of fear of retaliation, or because of concern that the issue will be dealt with ineffectively at best, or at worst ignored or covered up. Bystanders and witnesses rarely come forward and this leads to a culture of impunity for perpetrators.”
Dr Pilavaki was speaking last Wednesday, November 1, 2023, at an event co-organised by the Hypatia Foundation and the Municipality of Strovolos, entitled “Problems and challenges in addressing the problem of sexual harassment in the workplace in Cyprus and Greece and the role of the MeToo Movement”.
Three shocking cases
“I’m still trying to deal with what happened to me and the bad events that have stigmatised me to this day, because when I talk about them, all these years later, I feel unwell,” said a young civil servant who in 2019 had reported sexual harassment by her supervisor at her workplace in a government department.
Initially, the woman complained about her harassment to the Committee for Gender Equality in Employment and Vocational Training, which duly referred her to the Labour Department of the Ministry of Labour and then to the Office of the Commissioner for Administration and Human Rights. “After my complaint, unfortunately, the competent bodies did not act in time, and the matter was eventually covered up. As a result, I was transferred to another department and they proceeded to various retaliatory actions against me. At the same time, the perpetrator continues the same harassing behaviour against female colleagues and remains unpunished.”
A young employee in a private organisation said she experienced a similar treatment when in 2017 she complained to the Labour Department and then to the Office of the Commissioner of Administration about sexual harassment by her supervisor. Today, six years later, she is still seeking justice.
“I was forced to seek a lawyer to handle my case,” he said, “but even after my lawyer’s letters, the company where I work continued to fail to respond to my requests, and only after the mediation of the Ministry of Labour, my employers sent me a pre-written letter rejecting my claims. Therefore, and based on several other hostile actions against me after my complaint, I believe that the company not only failed to take action to protect me as it was required to do under the law but tried in every way possible to cover up the incident and intimidate me into silence.”
The third case concerns a 23-year-old woman, who, visibly upset, described the indecent assault she experienced a year ago from a doctor (not a gynaecologist). She told us, among other things: ‘He put his hand inside me and made gestures that suggested something else… and certainly not a medical examination. He was saying at the same time ‘You have a lot of fluids… my baby’… I was in real shock”.
The woman, who was then in the final year of her studies at the University of Cyprus, went later that day to take a class at the university and revealed the incident to a fellow student, as well as to a friend and the man she was having an affair with. She also spoke to her brother and to a female lawyer, who sent a letter on her behalf to the Pancyprian Medical Association, in which she exposed the relevant facts. She then went with her lawyer to make a complaint against the doctor to the police, but as she told us, there has been no development in the case since then.
“Women always say no”
“Based on the legislation in force in Cyprus, any form of unwanted verbal, psychological or physical conduct of a sexual nature that violates the dignity of the individual constitutes sexual harassment”, said Gender Equality Commissioner Josie Christodoulou. “Research and studies – she added – show that women who are subjected to harassment always say no, either verbally or indirectly, but usually the person who harasses deliberately ignores the refusal. In fact, we hear comments such as, for example, “She is playing hard to get”. Women do everything they can to prevent and stop harassment, but if they do not find a supportive environment, or help within the organisation from their colleagues, they either suffer in silence or quit their jobs.”
The law on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment of men and women in employment and vocational training, which prohibits any direct or indirect discrimination on the basis of gender, was referred to by the President of the Committee for Gender Equality in Employment and Vocational Training Louiza Christodoulidou Zanettou. It is noted that the Commission has an advisory role and the power to receive complaints (but not to investigate them). It also provides legal assistance to women who complain of sexual harassment at work. The law in Cyprus was implemented in 2003, in compliance with the relevant European Union directives.
According to the law sexual harassment and harassment constitute gender discrimination, but also a criminal offence. In addition to punishing incidents of workplace harassment, the law also focuses on prevention. In particular, it establishes the responsibility of employers and their obligation to draw up a code for preventing and responding to sexual harassment, as well as to implement adequate measures in the workplace, both to prevent and handle such incidents.
“The legislator, wishing to emphasise the importance of the preventive action that each employer bears, holds jointly liable anyone who fails to comply with the obligations above. At the same time, with the recent amendment of the Public Service Act, sexual harassment and harassment are considered disciplinary offences, for which offenders are subject to disciplinary proceedings. It is therefore evident that at the legislative level, the necessary safeguards are in place to deal with such incidents, but unfortunately, dealing with such serious forms of gender-based violence cannot be done through the enactment of legislation alone,” Zanettou said.
“As I often say, we need a change of culture, proper education and awareness, but also the elimination of gender stereotypes, which unfortunately continue to be deeply rooted in Cypriot society. Sexual harassment insults and oppresses women in their working environment and does not allow them to develop their potential on an equal footing. We need to combat the phenomenon of violence against women, of which sexual harassment is a morbid aspect,” Zanettou added.
The silence has been broken
In her speech, Georgia Petraki, Professor in the Department of Social Policy at Panteion University, referred to the MeToo movement, in which, as she said, “many women, separately from each other, but somehow one after the other, in various places, denounced anonymously or anonymously behaviours of sexual violence, abuse or harassment that refer to their past and in some cases to their distant past”.
Ms Petraki pointed out that “the impact of the MeToo movement in Greek society is particularly strong, both at the institutional level and at the level of feminist activism. Women dare to speak out about the sexual assault they have been subjected to. Before MeToo women of my generation could not do it, having embodied the idea that they themselves were guilty and their first thought was not to talk about it, but to live with it. But today, the silence has been broken. Six years after the Weinstein case broke, the momentum of the MeToo movement is still going strong.
“On the contrary, it seems to fuel a new vitality in the actions of women and women’s groups worldwide. With MeToo suddenly individual experiences have become a collective experience, and for many women, this ‘collective impulse’ has also caused a readjustment of everyday life”.
No one today can ignore the fact that women have not yet achieved equality. Shame has changed sides, says Françoise Héritier. “And if some people react, solidarity for the victims is winning over public opinion. Moreover, the publicisation of guilt magnifies women’s anger, as evidenced by the number of complaints. In every period, gender relations are reimagined. What is certain is that the MeToo movement, which tends to take on the characteristics of a globalised individual resistance to male sexual domination, is creating cracks and helping to develop a common women’s consciousness.”
(Picture by Tim Pearce)
