How Tough Is It to Change a Culture of Harassment? Ask Women at Ford
Received the The Gerald Loeb Award for Business Reporting
Decades after the company tried to tackle sexual misconduct at two Chicago plants, continued abuse raises questions about the possibility of change.
For the New York Times
LaWanda Jordan
“We were told it’s been handled,” said LaWanda Jordan, referring to her complaint about a supervisor who was fired two years later. “The case has been closed; we can’t discuss it.”
Shirley Thomas-Moore
“A lot of women do not complain,” Shirley Thomas-Moore said.
Tonya Exum
Tonya Exum, an Army veteran who reported being groped, recalled a union representative saying: “It’s not sexual harassment. He only did it one time.” When she asked him how he would feel if that happened to his mother or sister, he just walked away.
Christie Van
Christie Van said a supervisor who had been giving her easy jobs began asking her to “play hooky” from work with him.
Charmella Adams
Constance Madison
Terri Lewis-Bledsoe
“The union, they really didn’t want us to call the hotline. It was going to close the plant,” Terri Lewis-Bledsoe said.
Orissa Henry
Bernadette Clyburn
“He looked at me and said, ‘You know you can have some of this too,’” Bernadette Clyburn said of a co-worker.
Miyoshi Morris
Miyoshi Morris was pressured into having sex with a supervisor while working at Ford. “No person should have to endure that,” she said of the inappropriate behavior at the plant. “You have to force yourself into a place of not feeling anything, of not having any emotion, to exist.”
Shranda Campbell Salahuddin
“I told him no every time. He kept on going with it," Shranda Campbell Salahuddin said.
Danielle Kudirka