Yes Sexual Harassment Still Thrives in Russia, much to the chagrin of the normal Russian woman.
In 1994 Alessandra Stanley wrote in an article for the New York Times that "The advertisement for a secretary in a Moscow newspaper listed computer skills, typing, English and German as necessary qualifications. It also specified that applicants should be 18 to 25, 5 foot 7 and have long hair. "There will be a contest," it said.
The advertisement was just one of scores placed every day that list youth and sex appeal as job requirements. It was also among the more courtly. Some Russian employers include another prerequisite in their advertisements: "bez kompleksov," or "without inhibitions." Everyone in Russia knows what that means.
In Moscow's bustling new business community, it is usually not frowned upon to grope the secretary, to require that the new office manager be single, long-legged and blond, or to offer to discuss a filing clerk's raise after work in a hotel room -- and dismiss her if she refuses.
Sexual harassment in the workplace is rampant in today's Russia, and the sexism that thrived under the Communists is growing worse, aggravated, feminists say, by the new lawlessness that rules the business world."
Dr. Zoya Khotkina wrote that sexual harassment was a real issue for Russia back in 1997 and yet even today we see that not much has changed. "In the Criminal Code, Russian Federation, (CC RF), there exists a law which prohibits utilization of an office position and material dependence for coersion of sexual interactions (Article 118, current CC RF). However, in practice, the courts do not examine these issues. Until 1990, there were annually 20-25 legal cases regarding this article; in the beginning of 1990, there were no more than 2-3 cases; and in 1994 there was not one case. Finally, the problem of sexual harassment in the workplace, in spite of its sharpness and widespreading, proves to be a social, invisible, ''transparent problem"."
So here we are today in 2008 have things gotten better for the wonderful Russian women? Not so much it would seem as related by Adrian Blomfield's article in the UK Telegraph. "The unnamed executive, a 22-year-old from St Petersburg, had been hoping to become only the third woman in Russia's history to bring a successful sexual harassment action against a male employer.
She alleged she had been locked out of her office after she refused to have intimate relations with her 47-year-old boss.
She alleged she had been locked out of her office after she refused to have intimate relations with her 47-year-old boss.
"He always demanded that female workers signalled to him with their eyes that they desperately wanted to be laid on the boardroom table as soon as he gave the word," she earlier told the court. "I didn't realise at first that he wasn't speaking metaphorically."
I for one find this judges ruling to shocking and reflecting a lack of respect and honor for the Russian women. He seems to confuse sexual harassment,
The judge said he threw out the case not through lack of evidence but because the employer had acted gallantly rather than criminally.
"If we had no sexual harassment we would have no children," the judge ruled. Since Soviet times, sexual harassment in Russia has become an accepted part of life in the office, work place and university lecture room.
According to a recent survey, 100 per cent of female professionals said they had been subjected to sexual harassment by their bosses, 32 per cent said they had had intercourse with them at least once and another seven per cent claimed to have been raped.
Eighty per cent of those who participated in the survey said they did not believe it possible to win promotion without engaging in sexual relations with their male superiors.
Women also report that it is common to be browbeaten into sex during job interviews, while female students regularly complain that university professors trade high marks for sexual favours.
Only two women have won sexual harassment cases since the collapse of the Soviet Union, one in 1993 and the other in 1997. Human rights activists say that Russian women remain second-class citizens and are subjected to some of the highest levels of domestic abuse in the world."
I for one find this judges ruling to shocking and reflecting a lack of respect and honor for the Russian women. He seems to confuse sexual harassment,
The judge said he threw out the case not through lack of evidence but because the employer had acted gallantly rather than criminally.
"If we had no sexual harassment we would have no children," the judge ruled. Since Soviet times, sexual harassment in Russia has become an accepted part of life in the office, work place and university lecture room.
According to a recent survey, 100 per cent of female professionals said they had been subjected to sexual harassment by their bosses, 32 per cent said they had had intercourse with them at least once and another seven per cent claimed to have been raped.
Eighty per cent of those who participated in the survey said they did not believe it possible to win promotion without engaging in sexual relations with their male superiors.
Women also report that it is common to be browbeaten into sex during job interviews, while female students regularly complain that university professors trade high marks for sexual favours.
Only two women have won sexual harassment cases since the collapse of the Soviet Union, one in 1993 and the other in 1997. Human rights activists say that Russian women remain second-class citizens and are subjected to some of the highest levels of domestic abuse in the world."
I for one am horrified by this judges ruling as he show a lack of education on his part and a total disregard for respect the Russian women deserve. This jude also confuses flirting, sexual harassment and possible rape with having a loving family with children whom are loved and cherished. I wonder if he would approve of his daughter or sister being treated in such a manner?
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