We normally focus on our newsletter on company analysis, but we wanted to take this week to talk about an important issue to us.
Creating a more inclusive African tech ecosystem is essential to ensuring dignity and prosperity for all. As members, it's important to make sure sexual harassment and assault have no place in the companies and organizations we build.
An ethical shift demanding increased accountability for workplace sexual harassment may be occurring in the public eye, but behind closed doors, many companies and institutions have done next to nothing to address sexual harassment which has led to hostile work environment for victims of sexual harassment and created a toxic culture for other employees.
Let's act.
Be proactive. Companies to be proactive about conversations and policies. Refresh the sexual harassment policy in your company and engage in the uncomfortable conversations. Draw the red line on what your company stands on before it happens and it will make very cut and dry to deal with.
Investors can help!
The current trends on sexual harassment within the Tech ecosystem may propel more companies/startups to adopt sexual harassment training programs, but some efforts aren't successful in changing attitudes or reducing sexual harassment. Conducting a one-time training for new employees is ineffective and is usually just window dressing by companies seeking protection from lawsuits.
"It's not just about providing one training and you're done. It's has to be a comprehensive approach,"
Bystander intervention training also may help increase a sense of responsibility, where employees are asked to speak up and even file their own complaints when they witness sexual harassment involving another colleague. Companies should use sexual harassment training programs that include pre-training, training, and post-training components at the individual and group levels. This is not a one-time intervention, it should happen frequently.
Avoid superstar / oga bias. We’ve seen this in the #MeToo movement as well. Very high profile people at the top of their company or industry were often excused for their behavior and people around them often times cover up their behavior. Management tends to make a calculation on how they are going to handle sexual harassment claims based on how valuable the person is to the company.
Not only is this unethical, but this also has significant implications on the company brand and the culture. Employees are always looking to see which behaviors are celebrated or ignored. This can lead to decreased morale, legal issues, and decreased brand equity.
Applying consistent sexual harassment polices across the company lets employees know no one is safe when it comes to breaking the rules. It doesn’t matter if you’re entry level or the MD.
The most important thing companies can do originates from senior management. DIVERSIFY LEADERSHIP. Some common risk factors for sexual harassment include workplaces with a strict hierarchical power dynamic where men outnumber women and most supervisors are male. Hiring more women in leadership positions has been shown to create a safer and more inclusive company culture for all.
Last point!
"Sexual assault isn't really about sex. It's all about power, aggression, and manipulation". This is me
More truth
“Sexual assault isn’t a private matter. It's a criminal matter” Moe Odele
The Ecosystem reacts!!!
Follow us on twitter to continue the conversation @citural @Instagram and @Linkedin with the hashtag #istandfortech
Thank you.
Citural Tips
Product and event feature
Stand to end rape - A youth-led Not-for-Profit Organization advocating against sexual violence, providing prevention mechanisms and supporting survivors with psychosocial services.
LokDon - Distributed, Decentralized, Autonomous Security For Mobile, Cloud And Internet Of Things.
StartHawk 2.0 - Make your co founder search as easy and effective as possible.
Data upload on @Briter_bridges' one-week-old Intelligence platform - briterintelligence.com - is proceeding fast🧑🏾💻. Sign up to keep track of what happens across #Africa's innovative ecosystem, track #funding, and analyse markets cross-regionally. 📨We'd love your feedback!
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