SPEAKER: He introduced himself saying, I’m Doctor So and So. The person who gave me your number told me you needed the job. I’m at the hotel, can you come to see me? At the hotel, in the bedroom, I found him lying on the bed. He told
me he wanted me, and we got started. There were also other girls who had arrived here in the same way. Each told her story, but the refrain was the same. We had to sleep with a doctor to be hired but we could not name the name.
I had to keep quiet to get my job.
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If I agree to talk about it today, it is to denounce the evil so that later, when a person needs a job, she’s not subjected to such a condition.
Watch the video above about a woman’s experience of trying to get a job with an organisation working in the Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
When you have watched the video, consider this question:
Why do you think she could not report what had happened to her?
This example once again goes back to the issue of power imbalance. In this instance between someone with the power to give a job and a local woman needing a job so that she can feed her family. It is not only a question of losing the
opportunity for employment, victims may keep quiet because of the shame they feel and for fear of consequences in their family and community.
It seems likey this is not the first occasion this person has abused their power. This scenario is all the more likely if perpetrators believe they can act without consequences.