On the Record: Nicolette Naylor & Sibongile Ndashe

Abstract

Recent local and global developments have turned the spotlight on the role of law in addressing sexual harassment in the workplace. Almost four decades after feminist legal scholars pushed for law that recognises that sexual harassment constitutes a form of discrimination that is legally actionable, it is important to take stock of the success and limits of the law. In a context where the law is increasingly accused of complicity in shielding abusers by (mis)applying sexual harassment policies to exonerate the perpetrators or fail to hold institutions to account where they claim that their hands are tied because complainants do not want to lay formal complaints. Nicolette Naylor (Director, Ford Foundation for Southern Africa) and Sibongile Ndashe (Executive Director: The Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa [ISLA]) discuss the role of the law against the backdrop of the successes of campaigns like the #MeToo movement that encourage survivors to speak out outside of the by unmasking and publicly naming perpetrators. The conversation was originally presented as an ISLA Conversation between Nicolette and Sibongile on 10 July 2018 in Johannesburg.