Opposition Senator supports Employment Sexual Harassment (Prevention) Bill
Putting a legal framework in this country to deal with sexual harassment in the workplace is “well past due”.
That’s according to Opposition Senator and attorney-at-law, Senator Wilfred Abrahams, who, while contributing to the debate in the Upper House on Wednesday afternoon on Employment Sexual Harassment (Prevention) Bill, called the Bill timely and pledged his support for it.
“Legislation like the domestic violence legislation, legislation like the sexual harassment legislation is geared at protecting everyone to whom it applies. It is geared at increasing those protections across the board, so that people can feel comfortable in their relationships, they can feel comfortable with access to justice and in this most recent instance, they can feel comfortable with respect to not being harassed in their workplace,” he stated.
His comments came as he noted that the issue of workplace sexual harassment is a hot topic and should not be shied away from, and in fact should be dealt with head on.
He made the point as he said that the previous Barbados Labour Party Administration, before it left office, had the issue on its agenda and started working on such legislation.
“So this is a concern, a bipartisan concern. It is not a concern specific to this Government; it is not a concern specific to our Party. This is something that really and truly should be welcomed and heralded by any right thinking member of our society,” he added.
But, he noted that our culture could pose a bit of a challenge for the implementation of the legislation. Abrahams made the point as he noted that Barbadians are a “very
casual people” who are comfortable in our relationships with each other.
“Our default word when you can’t recall somebody’s name is to call them sweetheart or love or darling, and it is not necessarily that you mean anything by it, but the fact that you mean nothing by it, does not mean that the term is not offensive to the person upon whom it is bestowed. A sensitive person or a Christian person may not feel comfortable with you calling them by the term of endearment that their spouse calls them, and while you don’t mean anything by it, they have a right to express their discomfort, where that discomfort affects them in their work environment,” he said.
With that in mind, he said when the legislation is passed every effort must be made to embark upon a full scale course of education to ensure that all persons understand that it is the new law, what would be considered a breach of that law, and what are the consequences imposed for breaching it.
“For those of you who have fears about how widely the legislation is drafted, you need not have these fears because these are the protections enshrined in the legislation that protect you from frivolous complaints, that protect you or penalise others for making false complaints. So the educational push needs to start with a fervour now,” he added.
(JRT)