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Norton to Introduce Bill to Create National Commission to Combat Sexual Harassment in All Major Sectors

December 19, 2017

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that Norton will introduce a bill to create a national commission to find ways to combat sexual harassment nationwide in major industries and workplaces, modeled on legislation Congress has enacted to combat national problems. The committee will report to Congress on recommended changes in law or regulations and best practices for preventing, training, investigating, responding to and punishing sexual harassment in the private and public sectors. Norton, the first woman to chair the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), issued the first federal guidelines holding sexual harassment to be a violation of equal employment laws.

"Congress has begun to confront sexual harassment here in Congress, but only Congress, which represents every sector, can truly take on the national problem of sexual harassment, which we now know has infected every major sector of the American workplace," Norton said. "If 2017 was the year of the ‘silence breakers,' we must make 2018 the year of heeding their call for action. The facts are tumbling out almost entirely because of women themselves and the free press that reports their stories. Many of the courageous women who have come forward have been in high-profile workplaces. Congress can take the lead in getting beyond women who work with the Harvey Weinsteins, Members of Congress, and other powerful figures to uncover sexual harassment against women who face greater challenges to exposing it in their industries, such as women in hospitality and retail sectors, where the personnel are disproportionately female and the managers are male. In reality, discrimination and the hierarchy of power in the workplace means that, regardless of the sector, men still hold positions that enable them to take advantage of female subordinates if they choose. A national commission would help reach and reduce sexual harassment where the average woman works. A national commission would not have to wait for women to take the risk of coming forward. It would be charged with identifying and taking affirmative steps to investigate sectors that receive too little attention."

Congress has created similar national commissions on other national areas, such as gambling and preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism. Norton's bill will model the sexual harassment commission on the prior commissions.