At She Can event, I have attended the panel discussion by; Sara Aziz the founder & president of Safe Egypt, Menna El Serafy the assistant professor faculty at center of Genomics, Nahla Mokhtar the corporate affairs & sustainability director at L'Oreal, and Rana Arafa who works as a TV presenter.
Only 30% of Nobel prizes were awarded to women! However, women can work anywhere but bullying and harassment is a community issue that hinder women from flourishing in the workplace. So, there are programs & initiatives dedicated for women who are under violence to train them and enpower them economically to sustain their lives.
There is a co-parenting concept introduced, so women are empowered to stay studying and working while having career growth opportunities in their workplaces.
Nowadays we have no awareness to face harassment without creating a conflict. So, “Standup” initiative was launched to train people on the 5 actions to face harassment in the workplace or the streets; 11,000 people are trained to take the proper action when they witness a harassment conflict.
The 5 actions are; 5 Ds that are safe for anyone witnessing harassment taking place to use them escalating the situation properly.
Distract; a subtle way to interfer. The key here is to intrupt the action through distraction. And this is done through ignoring the harasser and interfering with the person who is being harassed without speaking about the harassment action but talk about something unrelated. Such as: asking for the direction or the time.
Delegate; asking a third party to intervene. Choose someone near to delegate and explain the situation you have witnessed clearly. The third party person can be a person witnessing the situation or a person with authority.
Document; involves recording or taking notes on the instance. Only document if the person being harassed is getting help from someone else and you are feeling safe to record the situation. And after recording, don't post it anywhere and go ask the person being harrassed to explicitly take their consent on the next steps.
Delay; checking on with the victim after the situation is concluded. By speaking up even after the situation ends, we are helping in reducing the trauma. You can ask on their feelings or how they want you to support or accompany them to their destination.
Direct; name the situation and confront the harrasser. Before directly interfering; you need to ensure that you are safe and the victim is safe, ensure that the situation won't escalate, and make sure that the victim accepts the intervention.
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