Early in my career, I come across an incident of GBV perpetrated by a male customer on a female employee, Emily*, who was my direct report in the organization I worked for. Services to a certain male customer had been terminated for non-payment of dues, and in a fit of rage, he began to shout at the staff member who was attending to his query. Concerned that the situation was escalating, the staffer escalated to the issue to his supervisor, Emily. Upon being told that service could not be restored until the outstanding debt had been cleared, the customer assaulted Emily twice with open hands declaring, “You stupid woman, who do you think you are?”.

Management’s response to the incident was exemplary. An official statement condemning the incident was made and employees who witnessed the event were debriefed. Emily received counselling and not only was the customer’s account was closed permanently, but he was also blacklisted from accessing similar services from several other suppliers.

The violation was doubly shocking as this customer had lashed out at a service provider and at a woman. I assisted with wording the statement to staff and with identifying a counsellor to attend to Emily.

*the name has been changed to protect the identity of the survivor.

After experiencing this violation in a work setting, I began to take harassment matters very seriously and I am fortunate enough to have a position of influence in my line of work. I make it a point to advocate for the protection of whistleblowers as incidents like sexual harassment are often perpetrated by senior staff members against junior employees. This empowers and emboldens whistleblowers to tell their stories without fear of retribution. I also strongly believe that if you are experiencing any form of GBV, you must find a woman in a senior position that you can confide in. Chances are she has experienced something similar and may be willing to hold your hand through the situation.