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Friday, March 29, 2024

Why we need more women in corporate boards

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Harvey Weinstein, a former American producer who is accused of sexual abuse by more than 80 women, sparked thousands of women to share #MeToo stories of sexual abuse in different social media platforms. Sexual harassment, an evil that has plagued the corporate field, involves predatory male bosses committing unwanted sexual advances against female subordinates. In the Philippines, the relevant law on sexual harassment is Republic Act No. 7877, or the “Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995.” In the said law, sexual harassment may be committed in a work-related/employment environment and in a training/education environment.

What then is a possible solution to curb this evil? A good remedy, in my opinion, is to include more women in corporate boards because there is a glaring link between power and sexual harassment in the workplace. According to Prof. Ben Voyer, a professor of creativity marketing at ESCP Europe, power has consequences in terms of three important aspects of our psychological functioning: how we process information; how we experience emotions; and how we behave. Powerful individuals are more capable of concentrating on important information and getting less distracted by peripheral information. 

Voyer adds that power affects our capacity to take the perspective of others and empathize. It is crucial in understanding the emotions of victims. Power is crucial in understanding sexual harassment as perpetrators might be less capable of understanding the emotions of their victims. Power-holders exert different types of behaviors. Powerful individuals are more likely to be action-focused and make first moves. Power can also act as a trigger for men and women who are high in tendency to sexually harass, adds Voyer. This means that power is not a definite trigger for every man but will definitely play a role for those with a predisposition.

In another research by Allyson Zimmerman, as cited in the Forbes article “The link between Power and Sexual Harassment in the Workplace” by Karen Higginbottom, she stated that the larger issue of sexual harassment is a clear disparity of power at the top of an organization. According to Zimmerman, when there is a disparity of power in an organization, you see sexual harassment increase and when power is shared across gender, you see harassment decreasing. 

Zimmermann is keen to point out that having women in leadership positions alone doesn’t totally block bad behavior in the workplace but it does reflect an environment that women can be viewed as colleagues, not prey. This is about looking beyond how women are being viewed not only in corporations but in society as a whole.

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The greater representation of women in corporate boards will pave the way for greater accountability of corporate officers who commit sexual harassment and those people who ignore the plight of the victims when it comes to proper investigation and resolution of their complaints. In order to achieve this, there has to be a serious and active initiative on the part of corporations to restructure the composition of their boards, and to give women more power and critical roles when it comes to governance.

Allan Pamis is a lawyer at the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Office of the General Counsel. He earned his Political Science, M.B.A. and Law degrees from De La Salle University. He is also a Doctor of Business Administration student of the same university. He can be reached at edgarallanpamis@yahoo.com. The views expressed above are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official position of DLSU, its faculty, and its administrators. 

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