Gender-based violence (GBV) plagues workplaces, impacting safety, dignity and equality. Itumeleng Mokhele, senior change consultant at The Actuate Group, shares how leaders can foster supportive environments.
Gender-based violence (GBV) remains a pervasive issue globally, with profound implications for workplace environments. In South Africa, the statistics are staggering: a woman is tragically murdered every 2.5 hours. This is exacerbated by the fact that 44 percent of boys in the country experience sexual abuse by the age of 18, often leading to cycles of violence perpetration later in life.
The United Nations define gender-based violence as acts of violence targeting an individual due to their gender or actions that disproportionately affect people of a specific gender.
Violence against women is recognised as a human rights violation and a form of gender-based discrimination. This encompasses any act of violence that results in, or has the potential to result in, physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or suffering to women.
Gender-based violence may include violence against women, domestic violence involving women, men, or children within the same household, organisation, team or community. While women and girls are most often the victims, this type of violence also has devastating effects on families and communities. In the workplace, it shows up as a wide-ranging set of harmful behaviours that causes the victim of a specific gender to not be able to fully show up or function as a whole human being.
Why does GBV happen
When we go into the workplace, we put up personas and normalise behaviours that wouldn’t be condoned elsewhere – like catcalling – and shy away from calling it out.
GBV is still a taboo topic in workplace conversations. It is estimated that more than 95 percent of sexual offences are not reported. Many organisations avoid addressing it directly, fearing discomfort or reputational risk. However, the cost of inaction is high, both in terms of the people involved, financial losses and ultimately the impact on the society that organisations operate in.
Consistency, commitment, community
As the carers for people in a company, all leaders are charged with creating safe environments where employees feel empowered to report incidents of GBV without fear of retaliation. It begins with fostering a culture of openness and support, where victims are heard and perpetrators are held accountable through holistic, fair and transparent processes.
But the biggest challenge is addressing GBV when it happens in an organisation. It’s such an uncomfortable conversation to have that so many companies put a strategy in place and hope it will work itself out in the execution. It seldom does.
In the workplace, you have different cultures with different definitions of what GBV is. We need to create safe spaces where people can have deep reflective conversations to get a common understanding of what GBV in the workplace looks like.
Organisations must invest in comprehensive GBV prevention programmes that encompass awareness, education and robust support systems. In doing so, they uphold their commitment to ethical leadership and corporate responsibility.
Leaders should engage in honest, vulnerable and uncomfortable conversations with their people to understand the different perspectives and to help them create a culture where people feel safe and supported.
Organisations should also set clear guidelines and boundaries around what kind of behaviour is acceptable and what’s not. There should be consequences for the behaviours that are not acceptable and, equally, support services to heal, rehabilitate and educate perpetrators whilst supporting victims holistically.
Facilitated training and socialisation are great ways to combat GBV in the workplace, as they help individuals gain a deeper understanding of and adopt safe behaviours. We need to be careful of how we use and structure training. Many employees have to sit in various training sessions daily, and it can quickly become a tick-box exercise. However, if you socialise training and develop it for experiential learning with both knowledge and behaviour outcomes, it becomes part of the company’s culture and behaviours.
It has to be leader-led and there needs to be the right policies around consequences and support. GBV is a set of behaviours we’ve allowed for a long time, so it requires consistent dialogue, conversations, perspectives, engagements, and shared experiences, within organisations and teams. It takes away the stigma of silence and shame associated with GBV.
All leaders have a pivotal role in addressing GBV in the workplace. By fostering a culture of openness, setting clear boundaries, and engaging in continuous education and dialogue, they can help create a safer, more supportive environment for all employees. It’s time to move beyond discomfort and take decisive action against GBV, ensuring that every workplace is a place of safety, respect, and dignity.
