Savant Labels Boeing Plant A Haven For Harassment

A national expert testified yesterday that the Boeing plant in Auburn where a former female employee contends she was sexually harassed was a sexual-harassment disaster area.

The expert pointed out:

-- The ratio of men to women was about 10 to 1.

-- Male workers were "primed" to think of women in sexual terms because of the presence of sexually explicit posters and pinups.

-- No women were in top Boeing management.

-- The company's tolerance of sexually degrading materials condoned nonprofessional behavior toward women.

That combination spelled trouble for Chris Stapp and any other women workers at the plant, Barbara Gutek, a professor of psychology and management policy at the University of Arizona, testified yesterday in Seattle federal court.

Stapp, 30, contends in her suit that she was forced to endure hundreds of pornographic images, unwelcome sexual advances, and suffered retaliation after she complained.

Stapp, hired in 1989, was fired 2 1/2 years later, after the company refused to reassign her unless she returned to work.

Stapp says she sought a job as a factory clerk in the male-dominated shop because she wanted to enter an apprentice program and advance in the company.

Gutek, who has authored a number of books and articles on the subject of sexual harassment, said circumstances such as those that existed at the Boeing plant affect women by lowering their level of job satisfaction and commitment to the organization, and making them more likely to leave or be absent from work.

The effect on men, she said, is to suggest that, as far as management is concerned, "it's OK" to behave in inappropriate ways.

Research Gutek has conducted shows women are more likely than men to say they have experienced sexual harassment, even though the vast majority of women don't come forward and report it because "they expect nothing will happen," or fear they'll be viewed as troublemakers, Gutek said.

The cure for such ills, Gutek said, is to hire more women in different departments; to establish independent departments with authority to investigate complaints and act on findings; to include sexual harassment in employee appraisals; and set up employee orientations to make clear sex harassment won't be tolerated.

Under cross-examination by Boeing attorney John Aslin, Gutek admitted she never visited the Boeing plant in question but indicated she felt confident about her conclusions based on exhibits, testimony, and other evidence.

Aslin sought to discredit Gutek's testimony by painting her as having a "feminist orientation."

"If you mean do I think men and women are equal in work and value," Gutek responded, yes, she has a feminist orientation.

Earlier, two women, one who used to work at Boeing, and another who still does, testified in support of Stapp.

Cathy Johnson testified pornographic material was openly displayed throughout the area in which she and Stapp worked. She said it was not possible to walk through the building without seeing the material unless "your eyes were closed."

Johnson said that, when she told male workers she thought the photos were disgusting, "they laughed at me and asked me if I was jealous."

Another employee Sharon Brown-Pina, who still works at the Auburn plant and knew Stapp when she worked there, said she, too, saw many pictures of women in sexually compromising positions. She said she didn't complain because "they wouldn't have taken them down anyway."