Red Card Means No

The Presidents Club Scandal that broke this week means that sexual harassment is once again the subject of the headlines. Sue Chambers, Director of Human Resources at Aberystwyth University, considers how it affects those working in HE institutions. With thanks to Rebecca Kularatne, HR Metrics and Workforce Planning Manager at Aberystwyth University, for her contribution.

In the dim and distant past of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, I thought we had it all sorted. In my workplace, the lines were comprehensively drawn and we all knew where we stood. When someone was overly-tactile and crossed the line we collectively reacted. We felt that we were in control of our work culture, and I assumed it was the same everywhere else. I clearly couldn’t have been more wrong. 

Image credit: Ian Burt

And so in to the new millennium, by which time the line had been repeatedly redrawn. We had talked about inequality and sexual misconduct. We were open and inclusive. We were proud to talk about friends and family members who were openly gay and looked on with delight – and some disbelief – as a Conservative Prime Minister championed the legislation for single sex partnerships. We had come so far. Or so I thought.

Where any of us, male or female, is uncomfortable with harassing behaviour, we should feel able to call it out. Yet even today we can sometimes find it hard to do so. When our boundaries are breached, perhaps we need a code. Recently some bars have adopted such a code; if a woman, or a man, asks for an ‘Angela’ or an ‘Angel Shot’ in certain bars around the world the bartender will call a taxi straight away. While that is a great idea and addresses immediately the safety of the individual, it still avoids the root of the problem. The person who is behaving badly or unacceptably may be unaware, and will never be aware unless someone tells them to stop what they are doing. Women and men need to make it screamingly obvious when behaviour towards them is unacceptable. And we need a collective but straightforward approach to how each person can make themselves heard.  

The recently announced Time’s Up campaign, set up by women in the US entertainment industry, is one way of getting the message out there. It’s a co-ordinated effort to help people protect themselves from sexual misconduct and the consequences that may arise from reporting it. Perhaps many of this group would not in the past have publicly condemned the behaviour of their male colleagues but they are collectively now doing so. At the Golden Globe awards this year, women on the red carpet wore black to symbolise solidarity about this issue. This sends a collective message to women that they will be heard.

Universities UK recognised that the issue also needed addressing within Higher Education. They set up a task force of university leaders, students and academic experts. The resulting recommendations report, which was circulated to all universities, deals with violence, harassment and hate crime. The Chartered Institute of Management have also published new research this week on gender inequality and discrimination in the workplace. Their ‘how to’ guide to tacking some of the issues is due to be released later in the year.

So, whatever our workplace and whatever situation we are in, how can each of us be heard? How can we get the message across that certain behaviour is unacceptable? The word ‘No’ is not working, so perhaps we need something else? My suggestion is ‘Red Card’. It is clear it means ‘Stop’, and ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ has been part of the ‘Kick Racism out of Football’ campaign. It will become screamingly obvious to men that if use the words ‘Red Card’ we have a problem with their behaviour. ’Red Card’ means ‘No’.    

The Presidents Club quite rightly issued itself a red card this week. But it took an undercover journalist to expose that at a charity event, held annually for the last 30+ years in the UK, the only capacity in which women were allowed to attend was as hostesses, for the gratification of men and their egos. Would we have otherwise heard about this event? Probably not – we hadn’t since its inception.

The words ‘Red Card’ may work in some situations but we need red cards printed by the bucket load, we need to carry them with us and we need to brandish them often. 

Angry? You bet I am.