Bystander Training
What to Do When We Witness Bullying, Bias, and Beyond
Did you read the article that claimed two-thirds of women are bullied…by other women? While the statistic broke my heart a bit, I also wasn’t surprised. What I was surprised about was this: a reporter’s question that asking, “What can women do to stop other women from bullying one another?”
We need to zoom out. First, why are we re-victimizing the victim with a question like this? If I’m an ambitious woman, interested in making it to the top of my organization, and I see seven members of the executive team who are men, and one member who is a woman, I will believe, consciously or unconsciously that there is one seat for me. Through this lens, other women are my competition. This vantage point is exacerbated when women are discussed as commodities at work, “You’re Addie. Are you the one who went to Brown? And Jennifer went to Berkley?” It’s small and subtle, but it reiterates the idea that there are limited spaces for women at the top. In fact, studies have shown that when women champion other women, they are more likely to receive negative performance reviews.
But the reporter’s question is asking women to solve a problem that they did not create, but rather a problem to which they are responding. Inequality, bias, and bullying are everyone’s problem, not merely the problem of marginalized individuals. What can we do instead? Know how to act as a bystander. Watch today’s video to learn three quick tips on how and why we should all intervene.
