(Illustration by iStock/Thunderstock)

In 2018, UN Secretary General António Guterres described violence against women and girls as a “global pandemic” and “a mark of shame on all our societies.” Indeed, gender-based violence affects 1 in 3 women globally. Of its many forms—including physical, sexual, psychological and economic—physical and sexual violence carried out by intimate partners, or domestic violence, is the most widespread.

Among their many negative effects, domestic violence and sexual harassment interfere with women’s full and equal participation in the workforce. They impair employees’ physical and mental health and well-being, leading to stress, anxiety, loss of self-esteem, motivation, and even job loss. It contributes to the gender pay gap, and affects women's opportunities for advancement and career progression. Women usually bear the brunt of gender-based violence, although others are at risk, including men and members of the LGBTQI community.

In addition to its serious human impacts, gender-based violence negatively impacts business productivity and reputation. For example, a study in Papua New Guinea, where gender-based violence is widespread, estimated that staff members lose an average of 11 workdays per year as a result of gender-based violence: two to presenteeism, five to absenteeism, and four to assisting other survivors of violence. Reduced staff time alone costs companies between 3 percent and 9 percent of payroll. In the United States, one study found that women who have suffered from intimate partner violence work 10 percent fewer workdays per year than women who have not been subject to violence.

Meanwhile, sexual harassment claims frequently mar companies’ brands and reputations (and bottom lines). Allegations of sexual harassment by senior staff and drivers at the ride-sharing company Uber, resulted in 56% of survey respondents refusing to use their services.. In another example, allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct by construction workers on a major Ugandan infrastructure project resulted in the World Bank cancelling $265 million of funding and issuing a public statement. In fact, research has shown that sexual harassment claims have a greater effect on a company’s reputation than other forms of misconduct like fraud.

Businesses Can Be Part of the Solution

One point of light is that new legal frameworks are emerging that require more action and accountability from businesses than ever before. In June 2019, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), a United Nations entity tasked with setting labor standards, agreed to a global treaty that sets out the first globally recognized standards for addressing violence and harassment. One of the most significant implications of the new agreement is that companies will be required to respond to gender-based violence in a more-comprehensive way than before—including taking steps to prevent violence, to protect survivors through remedy and compensation, and to develop reporting and grievance procedures. The new agreement will become effective one year after two ILO member states have ratified it.

But beyond meeting legal requirements, businesses have a tremendous opportunity to help shift social norms. As Our Watch Australia, a nonprofit working to end violence against women and children, has noted, “Every workplace conversation, policy and action has the potential to either reinforce or challenge gender inequality and the kinds of attitudes and norms that drive violence.” Given that social movements depend on the human tendency to, as University of Florida’s Annie Neimand puts it, “gather in social tribes based on our identities and look to them for what is socially acceptable,” embedding gender equality across workplace cultures, policies, and practices can have a significant impact on both individuals and businesses.

Five Steps Companies Can Take

Many companies seem willing to tackle gender-based violence but are unsure where to begin. With this in mind, Business Fights Poverty, a social impact platform, partnered with businesses and NGOs (including Anglo American, International Finance Corporation, Primark and CARE International) to develop a series of case studies others can learn from, as well as a five-step framework for action:

1. Prevent Violence and Harassment by Identifying Potential Risks 

To one degree or another, gender-based violence affects all businesses. It’s important to understand where problems are occurring and what the causes are. Tools like the Business for Social Responsibility Diagnostic designed to help large companies with complex value chains identify where the problems are and how to tackle them. The tool enables a company to self-assess how effectively their existing policies, programs, culture, leadership, and strategy are tackling violence and harassment. Under each focus area, there are a set of guiding questions for companies to develop a score. The scores help a company identify where its doing well (high scores suggest it is ‘leading’) and where it needs to do better (low scores suggest it is a ‘beginner’).  

Two organizations making progress on prevention are the mining giant Anglo American and the luxury fashion brand Kering Group. In South Africa, Anglo American became concerned about growing levels of violence against women and vulnerable groups, and wanted to better understand how this was affecting its operations and communities. By way of response, it recently partnered with the NGO International Alert to carry out a series of baseline studies around the experiences of women and vulnerable groups at work. There are early indications that a lack of awareness about what constituted sexual harassment has contributed to the normalization of certain unacceptable behaviors. Anglo American has commissioned further studies, and is feeding the results of these into its inclusion and diversity strategy.

Meanwhile, Kering Group has developed an innovative internal training program with its foundation to provide a supportive and safe work environment for employees experiencing domestic violence. The company has rolled out the program’s three-hour, introductory curriculum in Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, and China, in partnership with local NGOs that adapt the content to local contexts. Staff interest in the issue also prompted the company to create a level-two, full-day course to become “internal advocates,” which goes further to address how to concretely support survivors internally.

2. Commit to Gender Equality and Diversity Across the Workplace

CEO and senior leadership commitments to diverse, equal, and respectful workplaces— backed by adequate resources and action—form a necessary foundation for addressing gender-based violence. It tackles the root of the problem (gender inequality) and creates trust amongst staff. Without this foundation efforts to ‘raise awareness’ about gender-based violence can appear tokenistic and lack legitimacy.

As an example, recent research by the communications company Vodafone Group, in partnership with the polling service Opinium, revealed that one in three working adults (37 percent) had experienced some form of domestic abuse and that it had significantly impacted their career. In response, Vodafone now provides 10 days of paid “safe leave” across its 26 markets for any staff member experiencing domestic violence and abuse. The policy also makes provision for human-resources and line-manager training to identify and assist people experiencing abuse. Vodafone’s longstanding organizational commitment to gender equality helped enable the change in policy. The new policy builds on a vision to make Vodafone the “the world’s best employer for women by 2025,” and follows the establishment of a global maternity policy with a minimum of 16 weeks leave, regardless of the market (2015), and a ReConnect program that aims to re-recruit 1,000 people following career breaks (2017).

3. Protect Employees With Supportive Policies and Procedures

Clear policies and procedures—including reporting and grievance mechanisms—not only empower staff to take appropriate action when needed, but also reassure survivors, bystanders, accused perpetrators, and whistle-blowers that the company will handle cases effectively.

In 2013, Unilever Tea Kenya undertook an independent review on how to prevent sexual and gender-based violence that was distressingly prevalent across the tea plantation sector. The review resulted in a series of recommendations, including a multi-sectoral approach to reporting and supporting victims. After training, awareness building and employee engagement, the number of reported cases began to increase as employees’ trust in the system grew.

Drawing on its experiences in Kenya, Unilever then partnered with UN Women in 2016 to develop a human rights-based intervention program across the tea supply chain. This resulted in the 2018 publication of “A Global Women’s Safety Framework in Rural Spaces,” which includes case studies, practical tools, and a comprehensive theory of change that businesses can apply to a range of agricultural commodity supply chains.

4. Collaborate and Campaign Beyond the Immediate Workplace

Sector-wide approaches to reducing gender-based violence, such as efforts across the alcohol or garment sector in a particular country, can help raise standards with suppliers and build a stronger overall ecosystem to tackle deeply ingrained issues. Companies also have the ability to influence societal norms and behaviours on gender-based violence through advertising and campaigning, particularly when the issues align with core business aims, and include culturally relevant reference points or actors.

As one example, alcohol producer Diageo recognized that Cambodia was a high-risk market, where women beer promoters were particularly at risk of violence and harassment by customers. It took a holistic approach to tackling the issue in partnership with the NGO CARE International, using CARE’s gender-equality framework, which analyzes individual skills, community relationships, and policy environments that prevent gender equality. Together, the organizations helped create a solidarity network among the women promoters and established Beer Selling Industries Cambodia, an industry association for major breweries operating in Cambodia. All the members of the association agreed to a code of conduct to improve the health, safety, and working conditions of beer promoters by setting industry standards. They also influenced the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to strengthen the prevention of harassment-at-work laws by including entertainment workers. This bottom-up and top-down approach created the opportunity for greater systemic change.

5. Be Accountable and Monitor Action

Companies taking action to tackle gender-based violence want to know whether those actions are benefitting employees. They also want to know how to most effectively comply with legal changes. Currently, the best approach is to adopt the standards set out in the new ILO treaty or use the Business for Social Responsibility Diagnostic tool. Then, set up feedback mechanisms to assess employees’ uptake of new policies and programs—conduct regular employee surveys and invite staff to share views on prioritizing resources to tackle the issue.

For example, in 2018 Diageo and CARE International undertook an extensive benchmarking exercise across Diageo’s value chain using the draft ILO treaty. This included ensuring that relevant policies addressed violence and harassment; adopting a comprehensive strategy to implement measures to prevent and combat violence and harassment; establishing and strengthening enforcement and monitoring mechanisms; ensuring access to remedies and support for victims; and developing tools, guidance, and training. The process highlighted bright spots (such as community programming initiatives focused on the sales environment), as well as opportunities to strengthen Diageo’s protection and response policies (such as replicating and scaling up these initiatives).

Through our research, we came away with three main insights for businesses:

  • It all starts with inclusivity. Companies big and small need to establish diverse, equal, and respectful workplaces to build the trust necessary for developing violence and harassment policies and practice.
  • Businesses need to embrace a new spirit of openness. Taking the steps outlined above can increase the number of staff who report incidences, and who use trainings and hotlines. We must collectively recognize this as a positive step toward improved practice that will result in the retention and wellbeing of workforce members, increased productivity, and less risk to brands. 
  • Developing more open reporting on the success or failure of approaches is critical, as many of our case studies reveal a lack of ability to track real impacts. This could include gathering sex disaggregated data in staff surveys to better understand employees experiences or partnering with monitoring and evaluation experts to develop appropriate indicators to measure progress.

Gender-based violence is not an easy issue to tackle, but businesses have an important, norm-shifting role to play—and a lot to gain by their efforts, including improved overall performance, productivity and retention. Those experiencing gender-based violence deserve a strong commitment to change. 

Read more stories by Alice Allan.