Free Sexual Harassment In North Country Essay Sample

While the 2005 film North Country is fiction, it is based on the true account of the first major sexual harassment case in the US—Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines. The woman in this suit underwent abuse in a mining field and in 1984 won the now historical case. The case and the film are important because they represent a time of change in understanding and legal protection of women (and men) in work environments where sexual harassment is present. As this essay shows, the film features prominently one of the two different forms of sexual harassment.
There are two types of sexual harassment, quid pro quo and hostile work environment sexual harassment. Quid pro quo sexual harassment attaches certain benefits of the job to sexual favors. Hostile work environments are work environments in which people are harassed because of their gender. In North Country, hostile work environment sexual harassment is the form most featured.
The film takes place in the late 80s. Josey Aimes is the protagonist. After leaving a harassing and abusive husband, she returns to her hometown in northern Minnesota. She ahs two kids, and since one is from before her husband, the town has decided that she is promiscuous. The men she works with have apparently decided this as well.
Josey gets a job at a mine, and her and the other female workers are exposed to a hostile work environment. Many of the men at the mine do not believe that women should be able to work in the mining industry and they don’t take them seriously. Josey first witnesses other women suffering from harassment, and then she herself becomes a victim of humiliating acts, deeds and names. She does what an employee should do in such a situation, goes to her supervisor, but her supervisor does not seem to think that her complaints are worth perusing. Her attempts to correct the problem only lead to the problem getting worse, and she is publically berated for trying to stop the harassment. Since the benefits of her job are not attached to sexual favors, then this is an example of a hostile work environment in which employs of the male gender are allowed to harass women without any punishment from management.
When Josey goes so far as to take her issue of harassment to the courts, the mine tries to defend itself by citing her supposed promiscuous past. While the defense tries to destroy Josey’s credibility by attacking her character, this does not ultimately succeed. In the end she wins her case. Because this is the first case of it’s kind in the US to be successful ruled in favor of a woman working in harassment of a hostile work environment, it is very important to subsequent cases. The real case that the film is based upon helped paved the way for more equality in US work places. One surprising element of it is to realize just how recently such cases like this started to be ruled in favor of women. It shows difficult situations, but also hope that a lot can be changed in a relatively short period of time. While there has yet to be complete equality in work places, such as equal pay, this case is a testament that things are moving in the right direction.