Building safe working spaces

Description:
Violence and harassment are deeply embedded in our societies and have enormous impacts in the workplace. They are are often seen as part of our “normal” behavior and relations, making them invisible and difficult to recognize and address.

A major cultural shift is needed in order to prevent and eradicate violence and harassment from workplaces. How can we shift from “this is part of our culture” to “this is no longer acceptable”? What happens when not everyone in our companies believe that women prefer to be complemented for their professional skills and capacity rather than their physical appearance?

During this training in Uzbekistan, HR representatives and other managerial staff from companies from different sectors and countries employing over 190,000 workers held meaningful conversations and reflected on the importance of raising awareness on violence and harassment, in order to ensure safe working spaces for their employees. The goal was to set up effective systems to prevent violence and harassment, and thus contributing to create safe spaces for thousands of workers.