BARCELONA. Four years ago, a gardener Xenia Navarro Blasco started a new job in a company responsible for the maintenance of parks in Barcelona.
Already during the orientation phase, he got the feeling that everything is not in order.
– The employee who introduced me to the task told me to report if the supervisor behaves inappropriately.
On the first day of work, some co-workers also warned about the supervisor.
– He was considered a capricious and temperamental person. However, no one mentioned harassment.
At first the front man favored Navarro Blasco, then the harassment started.
– He asked to talk with him, away from the eyes of others. He asked what color panties I was wearing and asked me to show them. In addition, he joked in a harsh tone about my visit to the doctor.
According to Navarro Blasco, the front man constantly came up with excuses to get close to him.
– I had already told the size of the attention vest included in the work uniform, but he wanted to forcefully fit it on me.
The kiss started a conversation about harassment
Harassment and harassment eventually took away Xenia Navarro Blasco’s ability to work, and she began to experience physical symptoms from the stress.
In Spain, there has been a discussion in recent weeks about the violence and harassment against women even more.
The discussion started when the president of the country’s football association Luis Rubiales kissed the star player Jenni Hermosoa mouth after the final match of the Women’s World Cup.
As a result of the event that attracted a lot of attention, the international football association Fifa suspended Rubiales. Since then, he has had to give up his other duties as well, and Hermoso has brought charges against Rubiales.
As a result of the kissing scandal, the violence against women and especially harassment in the workplace started to be discussed in Spain.
The latest statistics on harassment is from 2019. At that time, almost half of the Spanish women over the age of 16 who responded to a survey by the Spanish Ministry of Equality said that they had been sexually harassed at least once in their lives.
One in five Spanish women who experienced harassment named someone from their workplace as a harasser.
There are no recent statistics on sexual harassment and harassment in the workplace alone.
Figures in Finland are parallel. The most recent equality barometer from 2017 says that almost 40 percent of Finnish women have experienced sexual harassment.
More than half of those under 35 said they had experienced harassment.
There are no separate statistics on sexual harassment at work in Finland either.
The supervisor was promoted, the victims on sick leave
Xenia Navarro Blasco became the object of the person’s eye after she had rebuffed his attempts to approach her numerous times.
– It turned out that the supervisor had a hostile attitude towards my colleague for the same reason. He too had rejected this.
After that, the superior punished Navarro Blasco and his colleague by giving them the hardest and most unpleasant jobs.
The inappropriate comments also continued.
After a year, Navarro Blasco made a report about the front man to both the city of Barcelona and the company’s management.
The predecessor denied the harassment, and charges were brought against him. At that point, both Navarro Blasco and his colleagues had to stay on sick leave.
The court believed the women’s story.
has seen the court documents, which state that the front man is guilty of harassing and harassing both Navarro Blasco and his colleague.
The person in charge was ordered to pay both 15,000 euros for suffering and to participate in a workshop held by the city of Barcelona, where a new kind of masculinity is taught.
However, he never went there.
The supervisor was also allowed to continue in his post. Navarro Blasco felt that the company’s management downplayed the issue.
– After the lawsuit, the supervisor was transferred to other, higher positions within the company.
Navarro Blasco was also offered another position in the company.
– Why would I continue in a company that has not wanted to intervene in harassment despite the court’s decision?
Few dare to make a report
In the past four years, Spain has had a prime minister invested in equality policy Pedro Sánchez in the government.
Punishments for sexual crimes have been tightened in the country, among other things.
The government recently enacted a law called Sí es sí (only yes means yes), which counts all sex as rape if there is no consent from all parties involved.
In addition, sexual harassment in the workplace is specifically mentioned in the law.
Spanish women expect the new law to improve the status of victims of harassment.
– Women’s position in the labor market is already significantly weaker than men’s. That’s why many people don’t dare to tell about harassment and harassment, especially if it doesn’t involve physical violence, says Carolina Vidal Lopez.
She works as the secretary for women’s affairs and equality in the central organization of trade unions.
Legal processes are also burdensome for the victims, and their results are not always the desired ones. If there were no eyewitnesses to the harassment, it is difficult to prove it.
Together with the Spanish Ministry of Equality, the central organization of trade unions is creating a research institute on harassment of women in the workplace.
A new start in a safe workplace
Another trial awaits Navarro Blasco and his colleague. The proceedings of the case have been transferred to the Supreme Court and the decision should come in the next few months.
– For me, the most important thing is that the person in charge is convicted, and the company becomes responsible for protecting him.
Xenia Navarro Blasco also wants to get out of the company, but it has not agreed to fire her. If he leaves voluntarily, he loses the compensation paid to the dismissed person.
– I would like to start from a clean slate in a safe workplace.
You can discuss the topic until 23:00 on 19 September 2023.
Read more:
Analysis: Luis Rubiales survived harsh accusations and scandals, but he won’t be forgiven by Spain for a kiss at the World Cup celebration
The prosecutor opened a preliminary investigation into Rubiales’ kissing scandal – the Spanish Football Association demands the scandal boss resign, the mother protests with a hunger strike