US firm on the spot over s****l h****sment claims
Some 31 women have narrated chilling and horrendous stories of sexual harassment and abuse in the hands of senior male employees of a US-based company in the country.
The victims, current and former employees of Wildlife Works in Kasigau, Taita Taveta county told Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and the Centre for Research on Multi-national Corporations (SOMO) how they have been forced to endure sexual abuse, harassment and exploitation by senior staff members and rangers to either continue working in the company or get promotions.
Details contained in a report that was jointly prepared by KHRC and SOMO that occurred between 2011 and 2023 shows that the company’s abusive culture has persisted for over a decade.
The report notes that the ongoing sexual harassment and abuse at the Kasigau project, which has widely been praised for its carbon offset initiative, has been made worse by the continuous purchase of carbon ‘credits’ from multinational corporations.
Unsafe environment
Reads the report: “Combined, these accounts paint a picture of Kasigau as a workplace where influential senior male members of staff participate in, enable, and condone a culture of sexual harassment and abuse, leaving women employees in a profoundly and structurally unsafe work environment.”
Despite the damning report, Wildlife Works notified staff that it had “initiated an investigation into certain misconduct allegations on the part of some staff members.”
To this effect, the company noted that a few days after investigations, it suspended “three members of staff pending investigation into allegations of potential serious misconduct raised by a third party.”
In approaching their targets, the report notes that the alleged perpetrators often seek out moments at the workplace when no other colleagues appear to be around where in some cases, they use only words to pressure female colleagues into sexual acts, by suggesting they meet up at a certain hotel or another off-site location in town.
For instance, one woman narrated how she would be protected from her colleagues as long as he would accept the sexual advances made on her while another one recalled how her manager told her that he would defend her to the end.
The report further reveals that more coercive and physical tactics were used with the affected women giving numerous examples of unwanted sexual touching, groping and physical assaults in settings such as the office, changing rooms, and vehicles.
Adds the report: “One-woman worker recalled how, less than two years ago, a senior manager suddenly locked the door to the workspace they were in and began touching and groping her. I was really scared and told him to stop. Angered at her protest, he reminded her that “I would lose my job if I did not agree to what he was telling me”.
Changing rooms
In addition to sexual harassment, testimonies of attempted rape were also received with one case for instance being that of a ranger who attacked another employee while she changed clothes in one of the company’s changing rooms.
Thirteen male employees interviewed by SOMO and KHRC confirmed that the abuse of female colleagues was well known. When asked whether Wildlife Works treats women equally to men, most said that women are routinely taken advantage of and sexually harassed to get jobs or retain their positions.
Reads the report: “One ranger voiced the concern and frustration among these men well when he told SOMO: “It’s so cruel … I can’t allow my sister or wife to work at that company because the things that will happen to her there can affect her for the rest of her life.”
