A new Swedish initiative from a large trade union has opened a weeklong hotline where people can complain about sexual harassment or patronizing colleagues. The purpose behind this idea is to raise awareness about sexism at the workplace as well as to give employees the chance to talk about their conflicts.
According to the spokeswoman of the union, the initiative has been a tremendous success, dealing with hundreds of phone calls. This instrument works under anonymous conditions, and people who resort to it are given advice on how to cope with everyday office issues.
Mansplaining: A Deeper Concern
The mansplaining hotline hopes to draw attention on any potential discriminatory workplace issues in order to assure equality.
A recent study conducted by the company that came up with the initiative, Unionen, suggested that women are often helped when they don't need it due to the fact that the male population in their office often presumes they know better.
The organization, representing roughly 600,000 private sector workers, mentioned that the hotline will be open every day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. during a week to address the issue of mansplaining.
The concept named "mansplaining" addresses a man who will explain something to a woman, believing he knows how to solve a problem better. In the context of this situation, it is possible for the woman to already have more knowledge on the topic than the man.
Sexual Equality: A Communication Issue
The issue often has psychological repercussions on the women, who are led to believe that they are less experienced and competent than they actually are, whenever faced with this type of behavior. While Sweden is one of the countries with the best gender equality situations worldwide, there is still much to be done, according to the representatives of the hotline project.
As communication is often the solution to such problems and anonymous calls guarantee the lack of negative repercussions the conversations will have on the employees, this initiative proves that open dialogue can solve whatever issues that may occur at the workplace.
The hotline has had more success than anticipated. A number of 20 men and women were selected to take part in this project, answering the hotline phone calls. Aside from the complaints that came from women located all over the country, the hotline also received phone calls from men who were concerned if they unknowingly engaged in sexually offensive behavior.
