Women shouldn't be silent victims in sex assaults

The past weekend has seen social media outrage towards women's rights at work, triggered by a sexual-assault allegation at Alibaba.

Though it takes time for the police to investigate, the e-commerce giant's incident has already sparked a heated debate and once again raised public concern on how to better protect women from sexual assaults.

Over the weekend, the female staffer posted a long letter on Alibaba's intranet in which she said her supervisor and a client sexually assaulted her during a business trip to the city of Jinan in East China's Shandong province late last month. The employee also said complaints made to Alibaba's Human Resources Department were ignored.

On Monday morning, Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang announced to fire the worker who was "involved in a drunken state of excessive intimacy" with the woman and said he "violated the company's regulations".

There is still a question mark whether such a move can be timely enough to repair the damage to Alibaba's image. But the soaring response from the internet proves the public's disgust towards sexual harassment at work and how important it is that women should be better protected in the workplace.

China has been making huge efforts in this regard. As early as in 2005, the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Women was revised, and for the first time included the clause to ban sexual harassment.

The Article 40 stipulated "Sexual harassment against women is prohibited. The female victims shall have the right to file complaints with the units where they work and the departments concerned."

According to China's Civil Code, which took effect on Jan 1, employers should take both preemptive and follow-up measures to curb sexual harassment in the workplace.

However, sexual harassment is still not rare, as many female victims don't dare to stand out to defend their rights. The reason is simple: When it comes to career life, sexual harassment has been identified as one of the most damaging and ubiquitous barriers to career success and satisfaction for women.

Such sexual harassment also makes eye-catching headlines in many other countries. In the United States, New York's Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women and created a "hostile" work environment for women, a report released last week by New York Attorney General Letitia James said.

The toll that sexual harassment takes on female victims' jobs, their career paths, and their psyches — including their ambitions and dreams — is enormous. It can last for decades, shred their networks and toss years of training and education into the trash, but it's one rarely being talked about.

Human nature, organizational dynamics, and legal standards all enter the mix for a decision to remain silent for victims of harassment.

Joint efforts are needed for the women victims, if they stand out against sexual harassment, to be better protected from social pressure and guarantee their careers.

The author is a writer with China Daily.

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