Christine Prokupek - by Nigel A JAMES
Stepping
Out – Christine Prokupek's
Stand for Equal Equality
Sexual
molesters, it seems, have no regard for the common sense
understanding of normal behaviour, and, there is something about them
that most people find totally disgusting. But, unfortunately
there is often nothing that can be done about it. Because,
more often than not, these practisers of evil intent are in
positions of power and authority. But, even they can be beaten,
and, when things got too much at Christine Prokupeki's
office, she was the one who stepped out of the crowd!
It
was 1987. Christine was well on her way up the ladder at the large
Austrian organization where she worked. But, being a woman, things
weren't easy and smooth. There were the usual batterings of
loaded double meaning comments, there were the advances
– both mental and physical, and there were the promotional
blockings, and so on, and so on. And, so it was, that, together with
10 of her colleagues, the group of 87 was born. And, from that day
on things started changing.
The
differences were small to begin with, but then, as word spread
to the rest of the company, the subtle pressure that was growing
began to show teeth. And, gradually a following on an unthought
of scale began to emerge. And within just a short space of
time an active network of more than 2000 women had begun to make
itself heard! And, it wasn't only the management that woke up.
Everyone
else started stretching and opening their eyes. Soon, more and more
people started understanding the fact that bad behaviour was not only
a thing of the past, but, also a matter of consequence. Thanks to
Christine's Group of 87, the promise of disciplinary hearings
became a reality. New rules were the rule, and they were to be
reckoned with. And, funnily enough, the first person to be
officially disciplined at Christine's company was a woman! Female
section heads can also be bad! Equality, too, has to be equal.
And
then Christine's ideas went national! Word about the Group of 87
spread to Austrian law makers, too. And, when new anti-sexist
legislation was passed into law, it had with it some of these fine
ladies' principles.
And
now, life in the office is fun and correct. The monsters have gone.
And it's all thanks to Christine and friends who stood up and said
that enough was enough!
Vocabulary -
advances
- Angriffe
batterings – Schläge
branches - Zweigestelle
beaten – geschlagen,
common sense - Hausverstand
crowd - Menge
differences - Unterschiede
disgusting - abscheulich.
disciplinary hearings –
Discipline
verfahren
evil intent - Bose
Absicht
molester -
Belästiger
unthought of scale -
unvorstellbare große
Diarikom
is sponsored by Mag. Karl Brieber
Wirtschaftstreuhänder
– Steuerberater – Unternehmensberater
