ESSEC Steps Up Its Efforts Against Sexism, Homophobia, and Racism

To mark International Women’s Day and Gender Equality Days at ESSEC, we take a look back on the many initiatives ESSEC has been taking in the past years to fight sexual violence and sexist behaviour, as well as homophobia and racism. What has been achieved? And what new measures are on the way?

A charter that is gaining support

Since 2019, all students enrolling at ESSEC, along with all new members of the teaching staff, receive and sign a copy of the Respecting Others Charter when they arrive on an ESSEC campus. The text, which can be read at any time on the myESSEC platform, condemns any hateful or disrespectful speech or behaviour, as well as all discrimination based on sex, gender, religion, background, or political opinions.

The charter is a code of ethics, one purpose of which is to provide a legal basis for any actions that ESSEC may see fit to take against problematic behaviour and which are not covered by existing laws. One example of this would be excluding a student or dismissing a freelance speaker, not covered by existing legal mechanisms for dismissal.

We can always do better... 

ESSEC students, who are increasingly committed to fighting these issues (see this article), recently took action to expand the reach of the charter. The Student Council has just approved a second page specially dedicated to student issues, and the BDE for different courses are considering making amendments as part of an initiative from the BNEM (the national student council for management schools) raised with the Conférence des Grandes Écoles.

A reporting mechanism and 360° support

If an incident occurs, the victim and any witnesses can now turn to one of the 30 discrimination officers that the school has appointed across every level of its organisation: every programme, every campus, as well as in senior management, HR, the legal department, Career Center, CFA, BDE, etc. It is the only system of its kind in any grande école, and one that enables an appropriate response to be made to all complaints, be they submitted by students, staff, or professors, and whether the incident occurred on a night out, in class, or while on an internship.

Each reported incident triggers two concrete, immediate actions: firstly, the victim is signposted to the school’s psychologists and nursing staff, with a referral to specialists in victimology and traumatology if required (the cost of treatment being covered by ESSEC); next, an ad hoc commission is formed with psychological and legal advisors, along with a representative of the school and another discrimination officer. Victims may request to be accompanied by witnesses or friends and family.

What happens next depends on the severity of the incident and the evidence provided. Punishment is delivered following the principle of proportionality: education and awareness-raising through community service, restraining orders, disciplinary board and exclusion, or even criminal charges. In this case, ESSEC offers to support the victim throughout the procedure, and the school’s management will bring civil proceedings.

We can always do better... 

The system already includes a CPD component, which runs twice per year for discrimination officers, psychologists, and nurses working in the field, so that they can update their knowledge and avoid any loss of skills due to staff turnover. ESSEC also intends to enter partnerships with two specialist organisations to consolidate its action in this field.

Another challenge: improved awareness of the mechanism. ESSEC is planning a series of measures to make stakeholders across the ESSEC community aware of the discrimination officers and how they work. At the top of the list is the online reporting tool that should help people feel free to speak up, especially through anonymous complaints. It was rolled out (read more, here) on International Women’s Day on 8 March, a highly symbolic date that also marks the launch of ESSEC’s annual Gender Equality Days, as well as a communications initiative on what the school is doing and what progress it is making in these matters.

Deeper reflection underway

A lack of respect for others is also about education. Which is handy, what with ESSEC being a school! Thus, the new class on our BBA attended the first ever Learning Together seminar, in which 16 teams of students in Cergy, 2 teams in Singapore, and 1 team in Rabat engaged in reflection on racial discrimination, gender equality, and harassment on nights out.

Another BBA initiative: launching the Leadership & Management class, which includes roleplay activities covering discrimination and harassment. The aim? To lead reflection on sensitive subjects, as well as to learn about others and listen with goodwill, more broadly.

As for the Grande École, the Individuals & Organisations foundation course now includes sessions on discrimination (racial, sexual, political, etc.) and harassment.

We can always do better... 

ESSEC plans to provide students who are heading abroad on exchange programmes or internships with factsheets designed by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which explain cultural and legal differences in their destination country.

This is a pragmatic approach that some professors would like to see accompanied by more in-depth reflection. One suggestion doing the rounds is to give greater place to the humanities in our programme catalogue, and to include history and sociology in some law and intercultural management classes in an effort to counter the ignorance that lies behind many of the behaviours in question.

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