Dan, a regional manager, called her at home and the office pressuring her...saying that he “especially likes Filipina women.”
Sexual Harassment of Women of Color
by Sabrina Margarita Alcantara-Tan, U.S.A.
Note: This following article was originally published in Bamboo Girl issue #5, 1996. There has been no update from the Committee Against Asian American Violence (CAAAV) since it's printing.
Sexual harassment which is based on one's combined race and gender identity, like that which Susan at Kenneth Cole experienced, has yet to be effectively acknowledged and dealt with. According to a 1995 national survey of over 400 Asian American women by the Pennsylvania-based management consulting firm, BTB-Quality Solutions, over one-third of Asian American women surveyed have experienced sexual harassment on the job, and almost two-thirds of them knew other Asian American women who have been harassed.
An employee at Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc., manufacturer of shoes and accessories has been responsible for racially and sexually harassing women of color in the workplace, particularly Asian American women. The victim was a Filipina American employee named Susan. On December 1, 1995, Dan, a regional manager, called her at home and the office pressuring her to perform sexual favors for a white male friend, saying that he "especially likes Filipina women." Dan mandated that Susan not tell coworkers about his calls, saying that he would offer her money and "help" within the company. It was at this time that he also informed her that another Asian American female employee had complied with him in the past.
Beforehand, Susan discovered from management that she would be transferred to the store branch at which Dan was based. Because of the events on December 1st, Susan reported the harassment to her immediate supervisor and asked to not go through with the transfer to Dan's store. As Kenneth Cole , at this time, had failed to inform and train managers and employees of their rights in the workplace, particularly harassment, her supervisor took no action on the matter. So, on December 2nd, Susan resigned after exhausting all available options.
Dan continued to call and harass Susan at home; she reported it to the police, and followed up with filing a discrimination complaint at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), from whom she's still awaiting a response. Her attorney, Jonathan Moore of Moore and Williams, L.L.P., will be assisting Susan on filing a sexual discrimination lawsuit against Kenneth Cole.
Hyun Lee, of the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV), one of the few organizations in the country that currently works with women of color on the issue of sexual harassment on both an advocacy and educational level, informed Asian New Yorker, "We're trying to request a meeting with Kenneth Cole. We received a letter, in response to the educational work that we've been doing around the incident, and they suggested that we should meet." The groups involved, namely CAAAV, Gabriela Network, Arkipelago, and Kilawin Kolektibo organized to participate in the meeting. Susan participated in the campaigns and has "encouraged a lot of us [at CAAAV] to take this on as a serious case that effects the Asian Women community in New York."
Susan's case is an example of what is termed to be "intersectional discrimination," which is when sexual harassment is combined with the harasser’s utilization of particular stereotypes of women of color. Although sexual and racial discrimination have been treated as two separate entities in the past, it is only recently that "intersectional discrimination" has been explored as priority by the EEOC. And even then, they do not respond to cases such as Susan's, which displays their noncommittal attitude to the new priority.
"It's really ironic that a regional manager can get away with this kind of racist and sexist activity at Kenneth Cole," Lee states, "when a lot of their workers, especially at the retail sales level, and also their markets -- they're mainly women and women of color. So we hope to get some of our demands met. If not at the meeting, then we're going to keep pushing for it."
Most women, especially women of color, are unaware of their rights in the workplace concerning harassment. Many do not know that employers are strictly liable for making sure that their employees are not sexually harassed by supervisors. And when sexual harassment occurs between coworkers, it is not strict liability if employers show that they couldn't have known about it -- if they have, it is their responsibility to do something to remedy the situation.
Upon reflection of the case, Lee added, "One thing that I personally learned through this experience working with Susan is when you're up against such a big corporation with a lot of resources, even if you are the victim who was wrongfully treated at the workplace: 1) You don't have a lot of resources to turn to, and 2) You really fear retaliation from who you're up against, and realize just how real that fear is. Even after they're victimized once, they're still, again, dealing with that as they're trying to get some justice for it."
The Justice Committee for Susan called for a boycott of all Kenneth Cole products until the company fires Dan and publicly apologizes for the racial and sexual harassment of Susan.
More BagongPinay web pages about Sexual Harassment:
Sexual Harassment: My Story
by Cristina Peczon, Philippines
The Control Factor of Sexual Harassment
by BagongPinay
includes:
More Internet Links on Sexual Harassment