Anita Hill was involved in a sexual harassment case that not only drew national attention but helped drastically increase awareness about workplace harassment. Hill had taken the bold step in 1991 to testify in a Senate Judiciary Committee about the sexual harassment that she said she endured while working at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
A documentary was recently released that reminds us what she went through during those hearings and after. Clarence Thomas, the man that had been nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States was the subject of the hearings, but it may have seemed as if it was Hill who was on trial at the time.
Repeating the comments made about penis size, pubic hair and porn names in front of a committee comprised of all males, on a national level, most likely wasn’t easy to do, but Hill did. She sat there and repeated these comments “again and again and again,” said a New York reporter, Jane Mayer. It was their way of “humiliating her” she said.
It has been over two decades since those hearings took place, and a lot has happened in the time between. As many of our New Jersey employment law blog readers may already know, Clarence Thomas was confirmed despite the testimony that Hill gave.
While her testimony didn’t change the course of that nomination, it brought a new perspective to the problem of workplace harassment. The testimony provided insight into how a victim might respond in a hostile work environment, breaking ground for women today.
Victims of sexual harassment in the workplace don’t have to endure it. They can seek the counsel of an Evesham employment law attorney that can help.
Source: Los Angeles Times, “Clarence Thomas vs Anita Hill: She’s still telling the truth,” Robin Abcarian, March 12, 2014
