UpStander Workshop China

Because so many women gave us feedback that they needed more actionable steps in order to combat sexual harassment in their everyday work places, we create this upstanding workshop! They wanted to have the right language to call out sexual harassment.

Thanks so much to all the volunteers and the Global Shapers Shanghai II and other volunteers from Ladyfest, Luna, LQ, and the M&Y group for organizing.

• Lack of a nationally unified law on sexual harassment is even more reason to create a clear sexual harassment policy.  Employers can be held liable under law if an investigation into a sexual harassment complaint violates the accused’s right of reputation and right of privacy. As such, employers must have a clear understanding of what is and what is not legally permitted during an investigation.
• What a company is liable varies from province to province If a court finds that an employer is at fault for failure to prevent sexual harassment, they may be required to compensate the victim and may also be fined. For instance, Sichuan province requires the employer to compensate the victim if they have suffered physical or psychological damage. Further, the Supreme People’s Court has also ruled that when an employee has caused personal injury to another employee, the employer is responsible to compensate the victim. The nature and amount of the compensation is left to the employer to decide.
• The employer’s discretion to set their own penalties, combined with the mild nature of other legal penalties that are typically incurred, contribute to the prevalence of workplace sexual harassment in China.

From China Briefing

Lots of participants brought up good points about not jumping into the bold naming and shaming. How, in some situations, when the violation is less serious or perhaps the impact may be unknown by the perpetrator, it may be better to have a private, diplomatic, honest conversation. Some girls spoke about how, when they did that, the perpetrators were genuinely upset and became aware of the impact of their words/behaviors. But, if one jumps too quickly into naming and shaming, you may alienate someone who otherwise could have otherwise been an ally.

It seemed lots of women felt that in situations of softer violations, diplomatic responses should be tried before public naming and shaming.

So it's really a question of discernment, of when to use what. We discussed many of the complexities.