#MeToo Avoidance

"Part of the reason we wrote this article is we know that academic medicine mentorships for women are not of the same quality and quantity as they are for their male colleagues."
"We've all heard and we've had experiences and there's been [research] literature that has said that men are now saying that they fear mentoring women because they fear being falsely accused of some kind of sexual misconduct."
"What I worry about is that men are now going to use this excuse of worrying that they're under some kind of threat as a reason to back off mentorship."
"This has been happening for decades. Women have not been able to advance in leadership positions in academic medicine and we've been trying to find ways to level the playing field."
"I think when you have targets or you have quotas, it really focuses attention and provides opportunities to set an example for the importance of having gender equity."
"If we do not promote diversity and equity within our leadership and within our workforce, we aren't getting the best and the brightest in those positions."
Dr. Sophie Soklaridis, scientist, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health [CAMH], Toronto

"Without mentors, women do not have the opportunities that their male colleagues enjoy."
"Over and over again, I've seen women without strong mentorship choose a pathway different than that they may have preferred."
Dr. Catherine Zahn, CAMH president

The Centre for Addictions and Mental Health Foundation president and CEO Deborah Gillis, CAMH Scientist Dr. Sophie Soklaridis and CAMH president and CEO Dr. Catherine Zahn pose in an undated handout photo.    HO / THE CANADIAN PRESS

A group of high-powered women in the medical-scientific field in Canada put their heads together to come up with a commentary published in the New England Journal of Medicine focusing a spotlight on an issue that has become a real-time conundrum.The six authors of the report include Deborah Gillis, CEO of the CAMH foundation, Dr. Valerie Taylor, head of psychiatry at the University of Calgary, Dr. Ayelet Kuper, associate director of the Wilson Centre for Research in Education at University Health Network, Toronto, and Dr. Cynthia Whitehead, vice-president, education, Women's College Hospital, Toronto.

One can assume that all of these women who have achieved such positions of power and influence in their respective fields, took the time and the trouble to mentor other women younger than themselves as they themselves graduated from one tier of success to another in their careers. They certainly expect their male counterparts to do so. At one time males dominated the field of medicine and science. Women have since made huge inroads and appear to be graduating with medical degrees in unprecedented numbers, as well as climbing the ladder of success in their fields.

"Being afraid to mentor women is not simply about fearing false accusations of sexual misconduct: it is about discrediting women who speak out against sexual assault and harassment ... [which] threatens to halt progress toward gender equity in leadership rules", so not only are males in prominent positions failing to do their ethical-scientific-social duty to take women under their professional wings of authority, but in refusing to put their own careers at risk of future threats they will be responsible of halting 'progress toward gender equity', in the process 'discrediting' women's claims...

These women are concerned over what they see as either backsliding on the part of their male peers in assuming the responsibility of mentoring not just men but women, to aid them in progressing in their careers and reaching their aspired levels of professionalism. The problem is the #MeToo movement, putting a chill on men extending themselves to elevate the careers of their junior female colleagues. Given the tumult of the past year, hardly a surprising outcome. Men in all walks of life, from the everyday Joe to those occupying places of high celebrity have fallen at the mere suggestion of sexual impropriety.

There has been little in the way of judicial impartiality in condemning any man for whom the whiff of suspicion has fallen that he at some point in his life might have been responsible for a sexually aggravated attack; anything from rape to suggestive comments to stalking; or somehow failing to completely respect boundaries and telling an off-colour joke could be one of them. Men are being haunted by past and current indiscretions or just plain stupidity. Or, in some instances, female vindictiveness. Ever hear of that? It happens and perhaps more frequently than appreciated.

But in today's social climate women can express their indignation over something a man has done to them or someone else by interpreting whatever it was as a damning crime, and presenting themselves as entirely innocent; that same climate insists whatever they claim must be believed. Even if what it was took place 36 years ago when the perpetrator was a teen. Unless one is Justin Trudeau in his twenties whom reliable evidence clarifies that he did indeed physically and sexually 'assault' a female reporter, and then it's A-OK.

The fact that male professionals in the fields of science and medicine now think hard and heavy about whether to commit to mentoring a young female in their field of excellence is a byproduct of the #MeToo movement and for obvious enough reasons. To characterize that caution as an "excuse" as did Dr. Soklaridis, is insulting and uncalled for. Any male specialist with experience in his field who feels a personal responsibility to mentor a young female in his field will do so if he feels there is no conceivable threat to his good character and his professional standing. That will now take a leap of faith.

Men now have no idea what they may have said or done in their own formative years at any time, any place, with anyone else, that might inconceivably and suddenly be transformed into an unforgivable assault. It's a gamble, and judging by the numbers of men who have fallen victim to accusations, real or imagined, it's one that requires sober second thought. Little wonder men are drawing back from committing themselves to being a guide when doing just that might result in a future accusation of sexual predation.

That society is riddled with sexual assaults, with violent attacks against women is undeniable. In all such instances, due process of law and justice is imperative. But that now seems to have been waived with the influence of the #MeToo phenomenon. What we've seen over the past year transcends that, sets it aside in all too many instances when proof is absent and the 'she-said-he-said' scenario unfolds against the mantra that 'women must be believed' and for the men there is nowhere to go, no one who will hear his version (unless you're Trudeau) and he's damned, poor sod.

While the women authors of the article acknowledge that men appear to have withdrawn mentorships of females because of legitimate concerns of their careers being brought to a screeching halt in fear of accusations of sexual misconduct arise irrespective of guilt or innocent; sometimes as has happened even though innocence is proven, the fact that an accusation was lodged to begin with overrides mere innocence in public consideration, has elicited from them a consideration of just that: "That was something that we found profoundly detrimental and that needed to be addressed."

How did they address that issue? Simple enough, make mentorship mandatory. Establish quotas for female mentoring and leadership roles to close the gender gap. It's what can be called having it every which way.