The question is now: what do all the leaders do?

“With Sofie Linde taking lead, it should have been established that there is still sexism, discrimination, and sexual harassment in Denmark. And it must come to an end that women, who have already intervened, must use more brave energy to lift the burden of proof. The question is now: what do all the leaders do?”

This is the start of an Instagram post made by former Danish Prime Minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, and she asks a very relevant question. For the statements about sexism and sexual harassment made by all the brave women in Denmark the past weeks not to be forgotten, it requires action. Especially from the leaders.

The #MeToo movement has made a comeback in Denmark, and we can all thank the Danish TV-host Sofie Linde for that with her appearance at the award show, Zulu Comedy Galla 2020. Here she shared her story about experiencing sexual harassment, when she was 18 years old and an intern at DR (Denmark’s Radio). At a Christmas party, a big TV-personality threatened with ruining Sofie Linde’s career, if she did not give him a blowjob. She rejected him at the party but spent a lot of time afterwards thinking if it were stupid of her to have rejected him, and if it would affect her career.

Soon after Sofie Linde’s speech the debate took off, and it reached another level, when 701 women from the media industry wrote an open letter of support to Sofie Linde, which included statements like “You are right. We are experiencing it too” and “It happened once. It still does”. The problem has now reached the politicians at Christianborg, but a big part of the debate is still centered around the individual’s – hence the women’s - responsibility for saying no, and not so much on the responsibility that leaders have in the workplaces, where sexism and sexual harassment happen.

What if we started discussing what we should do about the problem, instead of discussing whether women should have come forward with their stories earlier, or whether women should publish the name of their offender?

Helle Thorning Schmidt says it pretty clear in her Instagram post. “Do too much rather than too little. And do it right now”. Because when it comes to gender equality in Denmark, we are good at talking about the issues, but we do not get much further than that. We all know that if we want our dreams to turn into reality, it takes action, so maybe we should start living by it – also when it comes to defeating sexism, discrimination, and sexual harassment.

So, what can leaders do?

Leaders can do employee interviews at least once a year, where women in a safe environment can share their experiences, thoughts and observation about sexism at their workplace.

Leaders can do mandatory seminars, where all employees learn about discrimination, what is okay and what is not okay behavior towards colleagues, and how we can create a solidarity culture, where we take care of and support each other – especially younger women in the workplace.

Leaders can make sure that every employee knows the complaint procedure, what to do and who to go to, if they experience sexism and sexual harassment.

Finally, leaders can take action on the things that they hear from the employees. Women should feel that they are being listened to, and the people, who are behaving inappropriate towards their colleagues, should be told that their actions are wrong and that there are consequences.

It took women in Denmark 29 years from the time, the first bill was introduced, to the day that women were given the right to vote. And it will take 106 years before there is equal pay for equal work between men and women in Denmark according to research.

Hopefully, it will not take that long for sexism, discrimination, and sexual harassment to be removed from the workplaces. But it requires that leaders take their responsibility seriously and start acting on the problems and accusations instead of just talking about them.