Sheila Mwanyigha reveals how she was sexually harassed at media company
Veteran media personality Sheila Mwanyigha has revealed how she was once sexually harassed at a former place of work by an unnamed colleague.
Sheila made the revelation while reacting to a BBC documentary titled ‘Sex for Work’ which exposed numerous cases of sexual harassment of employees and job seekers in the tea sector.
She said the BBC story really moved and hurt her, saying she was interested in seeing how justice would be served to the more than 70 women who were reported to have been sexually abused and raped by men in managerial positions at the British owned Unilever and James Finlays tea companies in Kericho.
Also read: HR body condemns cases of sexual harassment in Kericho tea plantations
“This documentary has opened up a lot of feelings in my heart and I sympathize with these women. I don’t even know where you can go and get justice for them; and how that justice is going to look like but I think back to even joining the media and the stories that I heard about certain groups I worked with and particular individuals within these groups,” she said.
She cited one incident when she worked in a media company when someone mentioned “pillow talk” to her and how shocked and angry she was. Apparently, the person who mentioned it to her was the one telling people about the company’s code of ethics and warned them of things they should not do in the office or to each other. Pillow talk is the intimate conversations that follow after a couple get together in the bedroom.
Sheila however acknowledged that there are morally upright male colleagues who went out of their way to ensure she was not subjected to sexual harassment at the work place.
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“There is one boss that I will forever respect and completely admire and love for all of my life because when I joined his station, he took me under his wing and literally hid me away from sight, away from everybody because he said ‘because of who you are, this predator is going to see you and make your life extremely difficult so I do not want to see you chilling at the water fountain getting water and hanging out with colleagues or at the printing machine high fiving colleagues’. He made sure I never did any of that or being on corridors catching up with friends. Nope, if I was not in the studio, I was in the prep room preparing for my show,” Sheila recounted.
She hailed the said male boss who understood what it took to nurture talent and help them grow unlike predators who are either men or women. She, however, noted that in our society, most supervisors are male and some of them use their positions as tools to wield power for extortions and self-satisfaction and never to advance the cause for anybody else.
She said she hopes people who had experienced sexual harassment and abuse in the work place would come out and share their stories.
“The other thing learned from this documentary is that predators come across as servants of God, a person with good standing in the society, that person who is always wishing others well and the type that don’t want much in life. Whatever happens with the outcome of this case, we are all invested in it. This sets the blue print for what happens next because if this is hidden under the carpet with all the other stories hidden under the carpet, then it gives predators even more strength, gumption and audacity to continue doing the things they have been doing,” she said.
Also read: Kericho governor Erick Mutai demands arrest of sex abuse bosses following BBC expose