Ethical Issues In North Country

North Country

North Country is a movie based on the true story of a single mother of two, played by Charlize Theron struggling to get by after leaving her abusive husband; little did she know that the abuse would continue in her workplace. The beginning of the movie set the tone of the ethical issues that would arise in the Mine. On Josie’s first day on the job, her supervisor made a comment about how the doctor that gave her a physical said she looked good without clothes and made his comment to the need for a sense of humor on the job. As the women walked out of the locker room on their first day, men were mumbling derogatory and hateful words under their breath, but loud enough to be heard. When the women were on a tour of the mine
on the first day, the supervisor of the powder room makes the comment: “which one of these girls is gonna be my bit**?” During a lunch break, a woman found a sex toy one of the men hid in her lunch box and the woman screamed.
All of this happened in the first day, and set the tone on how the women would be treated in the workplace.
Sexual harassment was one of the main issues that arose in the movie North Country. The causes of sexual harassment at work can be complex. Work relationships can be quite intimate and intense, and those involved share common interests. Employee's are dependent on each other for teamwork and support, and are dependent on their supervisor's approval for opportunities and career success. Supervisors and employers can grow accustomed to the power they have over their employees. Such closeness and intensity can blur the professional boundaries and lead people to step over the line. This was the case in the mine the women worked. Harassment of women is higher in fields that have traditionally excluded them, including blue collar environments, such as mining. Supervisors and the employees weren’t use to working with the women and step over the professional line and took advantage of their roles and being the majority in the workplace. They were also provided
sexualized environment, full of sexual joking, sexually explicit graffiti and objects. Most of the workplaces, men hold most of the supervisory positions, and they are the ones who decide whether or not a complaint of sexual harassment is justified. Because of this, if a woman complains about the man who exposed himself to her, in most cases, she is the one who will be considered the problem. This was noted later on in the film when Josie went to the owner and tried to tell him about the problems that were occurring in his workplace. They didn’t let her speak and tried to get her too resigned. Men are even less likely to report harassment because of masculine stereotypes, and the pressure to take anything that comes along. A man may be afraid it is a negative reflection on his masculinity if he does not enjoy the sexual attention, or he may be afraid of having his sexual orientation questioned. This was also noted in the film, were the men saw the harassment and didn’t nothing about the harassment, even her father didn’t respond to his daughter harassment until the end of the movie.
North Country showed strong and powerful women, who took a stand to sexual harassment and violence in the workplace. North Country showed the first successful sexual harassment class action lawsuit in the country, which implemented that all companies have a policy on sexual harassment.