Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 10, 1995 TAG: 9509110120
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long
The struggle has been long, but women's leaders said the forced resignation of Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore., Thursday showed that no less a male bastion than the U.S. Senate finally grasps its gravity.
The Packwood saga, a milestone in the fight for women's equality, is sure to have significant implications for women and men who work in office parks, on assembly lines and at construction sites as well, they said.
``Men serious about their careers will have grave second thoughts about their behavior,'' said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Fund for the Feminist Majority. ``You've made it illegal to harass people in the workplace. Now you're going to enforce it, even with people in high places.''
Packwood's tearful announcement that he would resign rather than face expulsion was the high point of a drama that began publicly in 1991, when law professor Hill charged that Clarence Thomas, then a Supreme Court nominee, had sexually harassed her.
The two incidents offer a sharp contrast. The Senate initially refused even to investigate Hill's allegations. Then, in graphic public hearings televised to millions, Thomas denied her assertions; and the Senate - which had but two women then - put him on the court.
The Hill-Thomas case so outraged women that, in 1992, they rebelled at the ballot box, putting four more from their ranks into the Senate and doubling their numbers in the House to 48.
``It was clear after Anita Hill that many of the men just didn't get it,'' Rep. Nita Lowey, D- N.Y., a leader on women's issues, said Friday. ``Well, the Senate got it. Senator Packwood is resigning. ... Hopefully, the Senate and the public has received an important education that will spare other women the pain that Senator Packwood has caused.''
Anita Hill made victims of sexual harassment, usually women, realize they had a right to protection, Smeal said. Packwood should make harassers, most often men, realize there is a price to pay, she said.
Since the Thomas hearings, complaints to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have skyrocketed. In 1991, 6,883 complaints were filed. The next year, 10,532 were lodged. And in 1994, it escalated to 14,420.
Monetary benefits also have increased dramatically. In 1991, 1,242 people received $7.1 million. In 1994, 1,874 people received $22.5 million.
``I don't think we will see the same dramatic increase like from 1991 to 1992,'' said Michael Widomski, an EEOC spokesman. ``You had Anita Hill, then the Packwood allegations started coming out and then Tailhook. It's gotten into the consciousness of the country.''
Still, others predicted the Packwood saga will cause another ripple effect in complaints.
``The Packwood case sends a message to women who still have a very uphill battle in bringing sexual harassment cases that this is a vindication,'' said Rachel J. Minter, a New York employment lawyer who often represents plaintiffs in sexual harassment cases. ``The women were believed, and action was taken. People will be braver about speaking up.''
``I think it's a victory for working women everywhere and it sends a message that this type of behavior will no longer be tolerated,'' said Linda Garcia of 9to5, the National Association of Working Women. ``It puts working men on call that sexual harassment will not be tolerated and that power in the workplace does not mean power to make women feel uncomfortable.''
Carol Tracy, executive director of the Women's Law Project in Philadelphia, added, ``Cases like this, when they're high profile and highly publicized, give women more confidence to come forward.''
The Packwood case comes on the heels of last month's record $1.185 million paid by Del Laboratories, a Farmingdale, N.Y., cosmetics and pharmaceutical company to settle an EEOC complaint that its chief executive had harassed 15 women. That was the largest monetary settlement ever obtained by the EEOC in a sexual harassment case.
And last year, a California judge upheld the jury finding of sexual harassment against Chicago-based Baker & McKenzie, the world's largest law firm, and one of its partners, but cut in half the damages of $7.1 million awarded to a secretary.
``All this sends a pretty strong message to men in power as well as to the women who may have thought after Anita Hill `I'm never telling my story,''' said Patricia Ireland, president of the National Organization for Women. ``In a way, this is something that was set in motion four years ago. We have come an extraordinarily long way.''
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Ireland said men's workplace behavior has changed in the last four years and will change even more.
``Where there are fewer and fewer community ties and fewer people going to church, more and more people find their friends, mates and dates in the workplace,'' she said. ``I believe women and men are engaged in an important discussion about how we relate to each other in the workplace.''
On Capitol Hill, female staffers Friday saw Packwood's departure from the Senate as a timely reminder that his kind of behavior is going out of style.
``I think it's a thing of the past, definitely,'' said one, speaking anonymously.
``They know women will come forward, and their days will be numbered,'' said another.
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How much will things really change?
Some said men might look at Packwood's behavior and not recognize that their own actions also constitute harassment.
``There is a common misconception on the part of men that sexual harassment has to involve touching,'' Minter said. ``That is not true. Often it is lewd jokes or personal questions about your boyfriend or sex life. Men sometimes have trouble understanding that touching isn't the only thing that makes it illegal.''
While such highly publicized cases do have an effect, it will take more than that to eliminate workplace harassment, said Suzanna Walters, a sociology professor at Georgetown University.
``This is tied to larger questions of men's power in the world,'' she said. ``It will take a reorganization of our society. Clearly, Packwood, even at the end, didn't get it when he said it was just a few kisses. It's a real misreading of what it takes to wield power in the workplace.
``Men might be more careful, but will it change their consciousness? Unfortunately, that is much more difficult.''
by CNB