No, you haven’t been transported back to the dark ages, because this is happening in 2018.

In January, to be exact, with three Johannesburg women coming forward to tell their stories about being “strip-searched and violated at work”.

The incident in question occurred at gambling franchise Topbet’s Germiston branch, with the three women detailing how more than 20 women were forced to undress after “the discovery of a small amount of menstrual blood in a staff toilet”.

EWN below:

The clerks have all described how they and other female employees were questioned and accused by management of leaving menstrual blood in the communal staff toilet.

One woman says that when nobody took responsibility for the incident, management ordered that all female staff be stripped and physically checked by cleaners, to determine who was menstruating, warning that the culprit would be dealt with severely.

“When I arrived at a meeting called by management, my manager was shouting, accusing us of being dirty, demanding that the culprit own up.”

The 52-year-old woman says that she pleaded with her manager to be excused as she’s already been through menopause.

“I raised my hand and told her how I have already gone through menopause. She said she’s not interested and all she wants to know is who is responsible for the blood in the toilet.”

That’s a female manager instructing that women be violated in their workplace. Sounds like she’s been reading from the Bathabile Dlamini playbook of how to treat women.

The 52-year-old has now opened a case of sexual harassment against management, with the Topbet national office confirming that the incident occurred.

The company says it has “apologised unequivocally to staff”, but that’s just not going to cut it.

Are there going to be strip searches for men who piss on the toilet seat? What about skidmarks? Is there going to be a prostrate inspection to find out who recently went to the toilet?

Seriously, WTF is going on – this is 2018 and heads need to roll.

Topbet say they have hired an independent female advocate to conduct further investigations.

It’s tough to find the energy to be disgusted at the treatment of women in this country, given how low the bar is set, but I guess there’s still room to be surprised.

[source:ewn]