Remuneration
& HR Training
16 Days of Activism
against Gender Based Violence
in collaboration with
BREAKFAST WORKSHOP: HR Strategies and Approaches to tackling Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
Are you looking at your organisation through
rose-tinted glasses?
1/2 day Workshop
We invite you to join 21st Century and Work Courses for a breakfast workshop that serves to highlight the vitally important issue of sexual harassment in the workplace, and to educate employers and employees on how to tackle this sensitive subject.
7 December
09h00 – 12h00
21st Century is proud to collaborate with Work Force to participate in this year’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence campaign, which takes place from 25 November to 10 December 2022.
Work Courses and 21st Century have partnered to bring together a diverse and multi-disciplinary team of speakers, who will share insights on their experience on the topic and their proposed reforms on tackling the challenge of sexual harassment.
Attendees will have an opportunity to network and debate some of the reforms suggested by our speakers.
The impact of sexual harassment in the workplace
Sexual Harassment is a form of Gender Based Violence that poses a significant threat to the safety, advancement and development of women in the workplace and needs to be eradicated from all workplaces.
The Labour Appeal Court in Campbell Scientific Africa (Pty) Ltd v Simmers & others (2016) 37 ILJ 116 (LAC) described the impact of sexual harassment as follows:
“By its nature such harassment creates an offensive and very often intimidating work environment that undermines the dignity, privacy and integrity of the victim and creates a barrier to substantive equality in the workplace. It is for this reason that this Court has characterised it as ‘the most heinous misconduct that plagues a workplace.”
Lynn Hill
Lynn Hill Lynn Hill is a renowned Multi- Award-Winning Global Speaker, Author, Poet, Transformation Practitioner, Counselor & Global Ambassador of the Rossy Foundation International (Koblenz- Germany).
Lynn will look at unraveling and un-labelling the concept of sexual harassment and demonstrate how it is an effect of a deeper root cause. She is passionate about re-defining the traditional concept of power and empowering others to differentiate between “borrowed power” & “authentic power”.
Lynn believes that levels of escalated consciousness around this issue has the potential to transform workplace culture, which ultimately either contributes towards the conduciveness for sexual harassment to occur or can play a role in preventing it.
Bonita Meyersfeld
Bonita Meyersfeld is human rights lawyer and professor at Wits Law School. She has published a book on “Domestic Violence and International Law”, and has also written an important piece titled “Sexual Harassment and Disciplinary Procedure Never the Twain Shall Meet”. This paper unpacks why chairpersons and Judges acquit many perpetrators.
Bonita will be unpacking the issues with our current legal process, and suggest how these issues could be better addressed. This talk is aimed at Employment Relations practitioners who are often in the position where they have to investigate and present sexual harassment cases at a disciplinary enquiry.
Victor Mndebele
Advocate Victor Mndebele is a seasoned employment law practitioner and a successful and highly regarded junior counsel who has successfully argued many cases before the Labour Court. He is a member of the prestigious Group 621 group of advocates based in Sandton.
He has received great reviews presenting our module on presenting cases before the CCMA.
Victor will be discussing the key message from the new Code on Harassment in the workplace and the different court decisions dealing with sexual harassment.
In the recent past, the High Court awarded a complainant in a sexual harassment dispute
almost R4 million. Victor will discuss this case and what lessons can be drawn from it and other cases of sexual harassment.
Ntombizone Feni
Ntombizone ‘Zone’ Feni is an Executive Director and Head of the Change Management business practice at 21st Century Management Consulting. Zone has 11 years of experience in Consulting and leading strategic projects, ranging from sector skills development, industry reward practice to change management, organisational culture, and employee connection.
Zone, through her Change Management knowledge and experience has recently designed a program called “Humanising Organisations” which is about leveraging human nature and diverse cultures to build bridges among different people regardless of job level, gender, race, disability or any other analogous grounds. “Humanising Organisations” is about intentionally creating a safe and thriving space for meaningful dialogue, human connection and creativity through continuous self and social awareness.
Zone will discuss the journey of change required to unlearn social constructs that negatively impact on organisational culture such as bullying, harassment and the disregard of other people’s dignity. Zone will also share evolving strategies to prevent and address “Harassment” in the workplace.