Bad landlords aren’t the only ones who need watching — Melissa Mark-Viverito said she’d launch a “Worst Workplaces for Women Watchlist” if elected public advocate.
“It’s using data as a way of forcing a change in behavior, and that’s kind of what we want to do here,” Mark-Viverito told the Daily News.
The criteria for the list would be laid out in Council legislation, she said, and would consider both public and private sector workplaces. The criteria for landing on the list would include substantiated complaints to the public advocate’s office, substantiated sexual or gender-based harassment complaints reported to the Human Rights Commission, adjudicated harassment-related lawsuits against workplaces, the diversity of top-level staff, the workplace’s family leave policies and other factors.
“We definitely believe that based on data that’s available, this is something we could do,” she said, adding that she’d also seek to create incentives for companies to change their ways.
Mark-Viverito said she thought it was important to hold both private sector workplaces and government offices to the standards. Asked how she sought to improve the Council for women during her tenure as speaker, she pointed to hiring women for top-level jobs. Mark-Viverito often noted that the city budget was being negotiated for the Council by women — herself, former Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras, and budget director Latonia McKinney.
“I think one of the ways to really break some of these patterns is by putting women in management positions and senior-level positions, that’s why I was very aggressive in terms of diversifying the staff of the council,” she said. “We didn’t really have a lot of women leading divisions in the council so I think that modeling the behavior from the top, helps.”
She also recalled helping fund upgrades for Sanitation Department facilities that didn’t have changing areas for women employees. And she said women bring a different perspective to leadership roles because they have different life experiences than men.
“It’s not a coincidence that myself and Julissa are the ones that came out with the feminine hygiene products at schools,” she said, referring to legislation to require free pads and tampons at schools, jails and other city facilities.
The proposal is Mark-Viverito’s latest appeal to women during her campaign — she’s repeatedly noted that should a man win, all four of the most visible city elected offices, mayor, public advocate, controller and council speaker, would be held by white men.
She believes at least one should be held by a woman.
“I believe so strongly in that, and if people get offended, they get offended. I don’t care,” she said.
