Nothing like good old Neil Hamilton to silence a room and kill the conversation with one of his many anecdotes.... "I may well be the only person on the panel to have been arrested for rape!" (discredited of course), I wonder if he does children's parties...... <tut> of course he does, £50 in the back pocket and he'll turn up for anything.
On a serious note it's not tosh at all. Nobody, female or male, should be subjected to situations or environments like that against their will. It has gone on for years and will continue to do so unfortunately. Certain organisation still have an "old boys" hierarchy and believe themselves to be untouchable. Recent revelations from reputable people regarding the BBC goes to show how prominent it has been and this happens all over.
I have a friend (female) who actually works in HR, knows all about employment law and is still having to deal with this on an almost daily basis. She has formally complained about a director and has escalated it to the board (of old coont golfing buddies of said a'hole) and has been met with 2 months of silence on the matter, and underhandedly been suggested (threatened) to be transferred to a different office over 50 miles away, for a junior position under "considered restructuring". She now feels her only option is to report things legally but is in fear of losing her job as she is already struggling as a lone parent with 3 kids, and is more than aware of the "black mark" that'll follow her regarding references if she looks for work elsewhere, as she has seen it done before within the company and was threatened with repercussions when attempting to give a reference to a colleague that had been through it before. None of this in the slightest bit legal... but it is a very real situation that is no doubt echoed in many places.
Life is hard enough and most people have to do shit jobs just so they can barely keep the wolves from the door, let alone be subjected to shit like this.
