While it's difficult to find a bright spot in the case of a New York City luxury hotel housemaid alleging sexual misconduct by the former head of the IMF, a small but significant portion of the population might actually benefit in the wake of the case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
A New York legislator has proposed a bill to outfit New York state hotel housekeepers with panic buttons.
Democratic Assemblyman Rory Lancman from Queens, currently chair of the Subcommittee on Workplace Safety, is introducing legislation which would require all hotels and motels in the state to provide emergency buttons to be worn by their housekeepers, which would alert hotel security in much the same way that elderly, infirm and homebound wear medical alert buttons.
Both The New York Times and the Associated Press ran stories this weekend about the dangers facing hotel housekeepers, indicating the problem is very real and far too prevalent for the quarter million employees who work in that industry in the United States. Despite safety practices like propping open the door to a room while cleaning, housekeepers remain vulnerable to a spectrum of threats, including the unwanted advances and bad behavior of some of their guests.
Hotel housekeepers share that vulnerability with workers in several others industries, including real estate agents, medical staff and spa services providers, where workers need to be vigilant when alone with clients or guests.
Lancman hopes at least to provide something for New York's hotel housekeepers, something that if the Sofitel maid had in her possession last Saturday, the news of the past week might be quite different.
On the Web:
Behind Closed, Sequentially Numbered Doors - NY Times
NY Case Shows Daily Dangers Faced by Hotel Maids - Associated Press
Strauss-Kahn case raises question: How safe are hotel employees? - Christian Science Monitor
Recreating an Encounter - NY Times
EXCLUSIVE: Strauss-Kahn Told Maid 'Don't You Know Who I Am?' During Alleged Sex Attack - FoxNews
(photo: Getty Images)
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Ted Frier
Cleverley
J. P. Major
ohsillyme
Lauren B. Davis
Rochelle Skaar
Salon.com
Comments
Further, privacy laws may be reviewed. Does the public have a right to know about the "personal indiscretions" of public figures? For now, privacy legislation affords politicians, actors, musicians and others some protection. Perhaps, that is undergoing an attitude shift. A lack of judgement in one's personal life may a comment for suitability in public service. In the United States, few people would vote for John Edwards now, even for a position on the local school board.
Interesting piece Kathy.
Great post--as usual. It only took a dozen attempts or so before I could access it, but that is another matter entirely.
R
To Kathy - some good seems be coming out of it in terms of a rather loud and indignant dialogue in the French press. French feminists are finally up in arms over the laissez-faire and exculpatory attitudes being demonstrated in defense of the alleged rapist - mostly by other prominent men.
And while I agree with the European journalists that a man's private life should remain private, there's a difference between being a ladies' man and being an accused rapist. DSK's consenting adult mistresses are solely the business of his and their families, but in the U.S. sexual assault is legally considered a crime not just against the victim but against society itself. (The chambermaid can be called as a witness for either the defense or the prosecution, but the trial will be the State of New York vs. Dominique Strauss-Kahn.)
To say that someone "has a way with women" implies that he's a great seducer, and seduction depends on consent.