Photo: NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP / Getty Images
The United States Congress approved this Thursday a bill that will prevent cases of sexual harassment in the workplace from being silenced and that gives victims more tools to be able to report them.
The measure was unanimously approved this Thursday in the Senate after receiving the endorsement of the Lower House this week and, to enter into force, it will have to be signed by President Joe Biden, who has already expressed his support for the project.
Once it is implemented, the law will prevent the private sector from forcing its employees to participate in secret arbitration processes outside the judicial system and in that the victims currently participate and those who allegedly perpetrated the sexual abuse.
Specifically, the project will give victims the power to decide if they want to go directly to the justice to solve view their reports of sexual abuse and harassment.
Some 60 millions of Americans, most of them women, have been forced to participate in this type of process, Democrat Kirsten explained in the hemicycle Gillibrand.
Gillibrand, a fierce advocate for survivors of sexual abuse, affirmed that the current system especially harms women from African-American or Hispanic minorities and those with few economic resources.
“This law will help repair a broken system that protects companies. This law ends the days in which survivors are silenced,” Gillibrand said at a press conference after the vote.
This initiative represents one of the largest reforms in the US private sector in decades, according to senators who have promoted the initiative and among whom is the Republican Lindsey Graham.
The approval of these changes supposes a victory for the “Me Too” movement, which was born four years ago to make visible the harassment and abuse suffered by many women in work situations.
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