The other night while my friends and I sat around and stuffed a bunch of chocolate chip waffles into our mouths (because, why not?), we had a great conversation about what it means to be college women in today’s day and age. It was such a unique and interesting topic to talk about with other collegiate women; you always read about things like this in articles but never really take the time to talk about it out loud. It was refreshing to hear other girls’ stories and to know that they share many of the same experiences, questions, and worries you have as well.
One thing in particular came up during our discussion. One girl opened up to us about how uncomfortable she feels at her financial internship after she experienced multiple instances of older men making inappropriate, often sexual comments to her on the job. She never knows what to do when these things happen. Does she ignore them, with the chance that they will keep harassing her? Does she call them out or report them, potentially putting her job at risk? She could show up in a turtleneck and loose pants everyday, but she feels like that would be giving in. The last thing she wants to do is quit, since she has worked so hard to earn this position. After she told her story, other girls chimed in with their own similar experiences at their internships. Another girl told us how one of her female supervisors warned her at the beginning not to be too open or friendly with some of the men at the company, since they have had prior “issues” with younger female employees, especially the interns.
While the extremity of the situations varied, some things stood out in all of them. All of the girls felt powerless, all of them didn’t know how to handle the situation, and all of them feel angry about it now. Very angry. We work so hard as college students to break into these industries, many of which have been closed to women for a long time. We find success in earning that top internship position, only to have our confidence and self-esteem belittled on the job. None of us have been trained to handle these situations, and oftentimes they come as an unexpected shock. And we feel as if there is no place to turn to get the advice and help we need to handle it.
After looking into this issue a bit online (see the Business Insider article below), I was shocked to find that only within the last two years have states started to pass laws to protect unpaid interns from sexual harassment. Even so, states have reported that very few cases have been made despite this legal progress. Maurice Pianko, a New York lawyer that specializes in representing unpaid interns, pointed out that “because they are the least powerful members of any company they work for, [they are] more likely to keep the inappropriate behavior of their bosses to themselves for fear of damaging their reputations — both within the company they’re working for and the wider industry they hope to build a career in.”
I wish I could use this article to talk about the correct way to deal with harassment at internships, but I’m afraid I have to say that I am at a loss as well. What I can do is encourage you to start this conversation with your friends, with your parents, with your trusted older mentors; we need to be open and honest about our experiences and talk with other women about how they have dealt with these things in the past. Furthermore, we need to open up this conversation to larger platforms; let our schools know of this issue and work together to bring about tools to equip their female students entering the work force. I wish I could say our society’s industries have completely opened their doors to the idea of respectable working women, but until that time is fully reached it is our job to make our grievances known and push for change.
To read more about sexual harassment in internships, check out: http://www.businessinsider.com/states-banning-sexual-harassment-of-unpaid-interns-2014-10#ixzz3R6OOhCaz