Sleeping Your Way Up The Corporate Ladder

Not many people would openly admit to it but there are a few people who have made their way to the top in hotel rooms and boardroom tables with their superiors. For most people, it’s an option because it’s easier you don’t need a qualification or experience. You don’t have to start from the bottom like most people. All you’d have to do is play nice with the relevant people and pay them in kind.

One of the first and most obvious reasons why people would lift their noses up to this act is because of the moral value of it. Then again, who gets to set the normal for individuals? We all have our hustles but there are easier ways to get to what you want.

 
Does it matter how you get to the top??? Although morals come into question, the fact that one would not proudly say how they got to where they are, shows that they are aware of the moral implications of their actions. To society it might matter but to the individual, all it means is a fatter pay check and bigger title amongst their peers. If it does matter, then to whom does it matter?

 
Ambitions are undermined because of your gender and your physical appearance. The effort one puts into preparing for an interview is undermined and sexual pleasure takes priority.

 
Recent reports on Government officials who demanded sex from their female interns in exchange for jobs set social networks alight with comments of all sorts. Interns who refused allegedly found that their contracts were not renewed. The allegations where condemned by numerous figures in the political, government and corporate landscapes saying that no one has a right to demand sex from anyone in the workplace anywhere. Government institutions have policies in place to deal with issues falling under sexual harassment and these policies must be communicated all the time to employees to be made aware of… but one key question that comes to mind is the implementation of these policies and the question are policies enough? Or does more energy need to be invested in teaching superiors to zip it?

 
It doesn’t just happen in the work place – Students have had to exchange sex for good grades – instead of getting help from their educators the problem is suppressed with favours in exchange for a pass to the next grade. What future does a student then have if all they know is giving their bodies to get ahead because the same problem is likely to appear in their next level of education?

 
A shocking report on South African schools has revealed a disturbing trend in which schoolgirls voluntarily engage in sexual activity with teachers to earn good grades. This tendency is called “sexually transmitted marks”, or STM.
Whereas parents are concerned with their children being bullied at school by their peers. The violence that is playing itself out in our schools is not simply violence in the form of bullying. Educators are also a threat to the safety of pupils as they too cannot be trusted because of their questionable morals. Children have even gone to the extent of committing suicide because they felt speaking out would get them into too much trouble and they would have to live with the label of the child who was abused and therefore taking their own life was the best option.

 
A 2011 survey conducted by ActionAid in three Liberian universities found that about 85% of female students had been sexually harassed or involved in transactional sex while they studied. Some women said they were forced to keep repeating classes if they refused to have sex with their male lecturers. If a woman reported her lecturer and he was sacked, the teacher would often simply move to another institution, the survey revealed. As a result, women forums are set up in Liberian Universities for female students. The practice is often referred to as ‘transactional sex’ – sex for grades – and it’s common throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.

 
Expose them – Truth of the matter is, no one should get away with victimizing another. Should you find yourself in such a situation make it work to your advantage. Keep the proof of the conversation and use it to secure the job. That’s if you can live with having such tension of having a boss whom you have not so pleasant history with. Also, is the job really worth all that tension? For school pupils the matter should be reported as soon as the child feels unsafe around an educator. Safety should never be compromised. Not reporting the matter causes the perpetrator to get comfortable in their actions and therefore perpetuate the cycle. Put an end to it and make it end with you.

 
At the end of the day, it’s a personal choice, because not all women a victim of circumstance. Despite the shocking reports, it’s also a possibility that these women offer their services in exchange of a job. It therefore also wouldn’t be farfetched to think that students would offer to please a lecturer rather than sacrifice not graduating the following year. Protecting women and children is the right thing to do but are the people who take up these offers their victimisers at fault all because they don’t report the cases? We all have a responsibility to ourselves and society, how a person gets ahead is their business.

Mbali Radebe