Twenty years ago, Anita Hill courageously testified about workplace sexual harassment during the confirmation hearing of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Her testimony sent shock waves through the country and altered the way we view and deal with sexual harassment. Workplaces and schools now have sexual harassment policies, and while sexual harassment sadly still occurs, it is no longer acceptable, expected, and just “the way things are.”
Hill’s testimony opened the door for some of AAUW’s work. Since 1991, AAUW has financially supported plaintiffs in several workplace sexual harassment cases, produced research reports on sexual harassment in schools, and given grants to community activists who combat sexual harassment that occurs in the streets.
Now, 20 years later, AAUW will honor Hill by co-sponsoring a daylong summit on workplace sexual harassment at Hunter College in New York City on October 15 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Anyone can attend the summit, but advanced registration is required. The event is free for students and a mere $20 for the general public.
The day will conclude with a series of performances in the evening by seven outstanding women artists. The closing events will be moderated by world-renowned activist, playwright, and V-Day founder Eve Ensler.
I am grateful to Hill and to all the unsung women and men whose courageous and decent actions and decisions made the world I’ve grown up in a safer one and one where sexual harassment is not OK. I am excited to attend the summit and hear from so many influential women in the feminist movement, including Hill herself. View the online schedule to find out who will speak on three panels covering what happened, where we are today, and what comes next (one speaker is Gloria Steinem!).
If you’re in the New York area, I hope you can attend.
I testified in a sexual harassment/discrimination lawsuit in 1992. The facts were pretty outrageous, but that’s another story. In deposition, the defense lawyer asked me — “Do you follow the Anita Hill controversy?” He just kept going on and on about Anita Hill in a negative way — implying that women were following her example by bringing sexual harassment and discrimination cases because women somehow enjoyed the limelight and wanted to unfairly victimize good men. Ironically, I did not follow the Clarence Thomas scandal (Part 1) at the time. (I was out of the country for a year.) When I testified, I was 21 years old and was not a party to the lawsuit, but the lawyer seemed to really enjoy asking me extremely personal questions while dismissing my testimony about the actual facts of the case. I left the depo crying. In law school, I was told that the lawyer was “just doing his job” by trying to impeach my credibility. So, really, the lesson I learned is that every person who stands up to harassment has the distinguished honor of being harassed a second time by the legal system. Not a great lesson. Hat’s off to Anita Hill, 20 years later, for maintaining her dignity in front of the entire nation throughout the process. I look forward to a day when the entire country (including law professors and Supreme Court Justices) will stop letting harassers off the hook and start protecting victims.