Story by: Laura Dalton
Contributors: Megan Mullen, Isabella Lopes, Sara Farzaneh
Research suggests that sexual harassment is prominent in the restaurant industry and that women will tolerate it if it happens at their first job.
The Restaurants Opportunities Centers United (ROC) is an organization that works to “improve wages and working conditions for the nation’s restaurant workforce” in the US.
The ROC has released new data affirming that sexual harassment happens so often in the restaurant industry in the US that it can be seen as ‘just part of the job’.
The ROC study shows that 66 per cent of women surveyed experienced sexual harassment from management on at least a monthly basis.
59 per cent of women surveyed also reported sexual harassment from customers happening on a monthly basis.
Sexual harassment claims come from the restaurant industry more than any other industry in the US, according to a study by Buzzfeed News.
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Austin Troshanowski, a third year RTA student said regarding the restaurant Jack Astors that waitresses are dressed in a way that objectifies them, saying that it puts them in a position to be harassed.
“There’s sort of a power dynamic,” Troshanowski said “And its perpetuated through the way that the restaurants tell them to behave and the way they tell them to dress.”
The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has also restated their position on sexualized dress codes by creating a call to action for “employers to review their dress codes and remove discriminatory requirements.”
The OHRC saying that sexualized dress codes reinforce stereotypical and sexist notions about women and that these dress codes can make women more vulnerable to sexual harassment coming from customers, management and other staff.
“Nobody really does anything about it and you’re kind of taught as a woman to just let it go and not report it,” said Jaye Williams, a third year journalism student who has experienced sexual harassment in her service career.
A difference in power is created when women work as servers under male managers and it leads to an environment where harassment is tolerated or ignored, according to an article by the Harvard Business Review.
Gabrielle Reyes a third year journalism student said she thinks the #MeToo movement plays an important part in allowing female servers to come forward with their cases of sexual harassment on the job, “It will allow for a culture where they can speak comfortably and openly about it and not have the fear of lashback from their employers,” Reyes said.
In an online survey conducted by the Government of Canada stated that 41 per cent of over a thousand respondents who had experienced sexual harassment in the workplace said that no attempt was made to resolve the issue.
SOURCES
Gabrielle Reyes
gabrielle.reyes@torontomu.ca
Third-year journalism student
Austin Troshanowski
atrochan@torontomu.ca
Third-year RTA student
Jaye Williams
jaye.williams@torontomu.ca
Third-year journalism student
https://hbr.org/2018/01/sexual-harassment-is-pervasive-in-the-restaurant-industry-heres-what-needs-to-change
http://rocunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/REPORT_TheGlassFloor_Sexual-Harassment-in-the-Restaurant-Industry.pdf
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/ohrc-policy-position-gender-specific-dress-codes/dress-code-faqs#_ftn3
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