By now you’ve probably heard about movie producer Harvey Weinstein’s adventures exploiting his power over Hollywood actors and others, nearly all of them women. But In case you haven’t been following the news, here’s the recap: Weinstein, an exceptionally powerful Hollywood mogul, has been revealed as a serial abuser who coerced dozens of women into providing sexual – or sexualized – favors in the course of conducting his business. In addition to acts that constitute sexual harassment, and others that are just plain weird and gross, he is also being accused of rape and assault by some.

When I see this story, everything that’s broken in our economy just flashes in front of my eyes in one big, inter-connected puzzle. From my perspective, a good number of our problems, top-to-bottom and back up to the top again, spring from a baked-in disrespect for entire segments of our workforce.

I’m not talking only about women, but about laborers, workers with disabilities, those with felonies on their records, people from racial and ethnic minority groups … and yes, white men, when the situation fits. Our workplace system is very Darwinian in nature, favoring those with power and strength and leaving the rest to scramble along as best they can. The result is not a better workforce, but one riddled with inefficiencies and the massive loss or misuse of talent.

I try not to let my feminist shirt tails peek out from my business suit when I write this column, but this is very much a feminist issue. Applied feminism by its nature is focused on making the world a more fair place for everyone. It is not about handing out unearned privileges. Nor is it the enemy of capitalism and our national narrative of pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.

Feminism is, however, about letting women, and others, go to work confident in the knowledge that someone won’t try to pull those boots off of them, along with the rest of their clothing, before allowing them to advance.

There is now no doubt that Weinstein’s actions were known to others, both in and out of Hollywood. Their silence can be explained in some cases by fear for their own jobs and in other situations as the worst kind of selfishness — as in, “It’s not happening to me, so it doesn’t really matter” or, “That’s the way the world is. Besides, these women are used to it.” Related Articles Carter, Frey declare Sept. 21 RBG Day in the Twin Cities

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Yes, as it turns out, we women are used to it. A campaign has started last week called “Me Too,” in which women (and men) are coming forward to say, yes, I’ve been harassed at work, too. Yes, it is still happening. No, this is not a rare occurrence.”

I can join this chorus, with more than a dozen incidents to relate. Here are just a few: I was fired from two jobs — one as a secretary, one as a waitress — for not accepting my bosses’ explicit request for sex. I was wrestled onto a bed by my client’s husband “in fun” when I owned a housecleaning service and needed the account badly. In an editing job, I was asked on a daily basis about my sexual habits by a female co-worker twice my age. In one of my waitress jobs, I was routinely slapped on the butt by pizza cooks with flour-coated hands as I left the kitchen with a tray of food on my shoulder — leaving bright white handprints on my brown uniform as I served my customers.

I’m not finished but let me jump to the grand finale: I held a professional role for three years in an institute of higher learning where the sexual harassment reached such epic proportions we landed in the national news, with television cameras planted in the hallway for weeks. When I left that job, I started my new company with the vow that I would never have to put up with that nonsense again.

I’ve kept that vow in all aspects of my business: Out-of-line vendors and colleagues soon learn my intolerance for disrespect, clients who creep me out get “fired,” and I don’t chase contracts with people I don’t want to do business with. Related Articles Business is booming for UV technology, the radiation that kills viruses

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Insisting on basic standards of decency has cost me money and I don’t think it wins popularity contests, but I frankly don’t care. Not all of us in this world has as much power as a Weinstien, but we all have some. It’s time to stand up and say “Me too” if doing so will help others to see things for what they are — and especially if it will supply someone with the courage to fight back.

Amy Lindgren owns a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com.