As the assistant to a couple of feminist writers, I often get the heartbreaking and challenging duty of responding to calls for help from women in all sorts of emotional, physical, psychological, and financial need. This is how I came into correspondence with the amazing Debra Hartley, who opened her note by saying, “I am writing to you out of desperation and with hope.”

Today Debra’s mother (a mother of 6, grandmother of 15, and great-grandmother of 3) will climb on top of their roof and will not come down until they raise the $15,550 needed to continue her court battle against sexual discrimination she faced as a female police officer in a Pennsylvania department. An account has been set up for donations at Citizens Savings bank, in Mount Pocono, PA, in care of,Justice for 31, (Debra’s badge number).  (Donate if you can!!)

Debra’s story, as she told it to me, began after barely escaping an abusive husband with her four small children in tow. While in hiding with her children, Debra’s husband violated a restraining order and brutally assaulted her. The judge set him free saying that husbands would do no such things. Debra became a police officer after witnessing this grave injustice in her own life that put her and her children’s safety in serious jeopardy.

She earned her degree while working to support four children and was eventually hired to a Pennsylvania Police Department as the number one candidate in 1998. She was the second female officer ever hired to the squad, one year after the first had been hired. She won numerous awards and earned the trust and respect from her community.

With one small exception, of course: her male officer colleagues. Debra writes,

More and more I became aware of the differential treatment between myself and the male officers. For instance, the scheduling, I would have to use a personal days if I wanted a Saturday or Sunday off but my male coworkers were consistently scheduled off on the weekends. My shifts were chaotic and grossly inconsistent. Even though I was assigned to first shift, days, I would be scheduled to work every shift, and that could change daily. The male officer were assigned to specific shifts also but they were actually scheduled to work their shifts, including the less seniority officers. I did not consider complaining because I did not want to be recognized as a complainer, so I sucked it up.

At the same time I was also dealing with three of my fellow officers, that did not like working with a woman, they began to make working very difficult for me and even dangerous. They would make bogus complaints about my work performance and often accused me of the very wrongdoings they were guilty of themselves. Finally after I was initially threatened with suspension following yet another of their unfounded complaints, I knew I had to make a complaint myself.

But it was not until after I filed my third, formal complaint of sexual harassment, to the chief, that he responded. He sent me a memo advising me that if I wanted to discuss my “issues” with him I should see him to set a date for a meeting. At the onset of that meeting he informed me that he heard that my reports were not completed fast enough and that I was disrespectful to my supervisors. Then he informed me that he was not going to conduct an investigation regarding my harassment complaints, because “we have a he-said, she-said situation” and told me that my allegations were “ridiculous“. He never gave the opportunity to speak or discuss my concerns at any time in that meeting.

At this point, Debra decides to turn to a collective bargaining unit. What she discovers is that there are no policies in her department created to address sexual harassment. Since the collective bargaining unit will only advocate on behalf of complaints against written policies, she was unable to get any assistance.

Debra filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and the EEOC and had to resign from her job in July of 2003. In the fall of 2007, she went before a jury of 3 women and 5 men in a Federal Sexual Harrassment and Discrimination Lawsuit and lost because, in Debra’s words, “He was just a new chief at the time that I was hired [and] he did not know how to handle situations involving women officers.” They ruled in the police department’s favor even though it was shown during 6 days of testimony that the chief lied on the witness stand.

Now Debra is filing for an appeal and needs to raise the thousands that it will cost to continue her fight.  It costs $9000 alone to get the transcript from the last case needed for an appeal.  Debra’s mother will be on their roof until they are able to raise the money because, “court cost should not be an obstacle for any woman who has been trying to protect her rights!” Debra is also planning on setting up an online auction for her fund, so stay tuned.

What I can’t understand is how this happened within the last decade. Weren’t Cagney and Lacey dealing with this back in ‘82??

7

You recommended