If you or someone you know is being abused, neglected or exploited, contact:

The National Domestic Violence Hotline - 1-800-799-SAFE
National Organization for Victim Assistance - 1-800-TRY-NOVA
National Center for Victims of Crime 1-800-FYI-CALL
National Child Abuse Hotline 1-800-4-A-CHILD
US Elder Abuse Hotline 1-800-677-1116

National Domestic Violence Hotline Canada 1-800-363-9010
Canadian National Clearinghouse on Family Violence
1-800-561-5643

International Women's Day 2008

Annually on March 8th, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate their achievements. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid as much as men, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women's education, health and violence against them is worse than that of men.

Learn how you can do your part to ensure that the future is equal, safe and rewarding for girls by going to International Women's Day 2008.

What Would You Do?

ABC's Primetime is airing a fascinating new series “What Would You Do?" which poses provocative ethical questions by dramatizing challenging situations and recording how people respond to them. Recent shows included seeing if bystanders intervene when girls bully a peer, observing how other shoppers respond to a Muslim woman being denied service at a Texas store, or watching how passersby react to teens of different ethnicities as they vandalize a car.

You can watch upcoming episodes of this eye-opening program on Tuesdays at 10 PM ET or view online.

Create Healthy Workplaces

Since 2003, 13 states have introduced the anti-bullying Healthy Workplace Bill. In 2008, Rep Valliere is leading the push in the House and Sen Cummings in the Senate for Vermont to be the first state to pass such a bill into law in the United States.

Learn more about how to support these and other anti-bullying initiatives by visiting the Workplace Bullying Institute website which contains a wealth of information and support for anyone being targeted at their place of employment.

First Anti-bullying Workplace Law

The first anti-bullying law in North America came into effect on June 1, 2004 in Quebec, Canada. The law, an amendment to Quebec’s Labour Standards Act, defines psychological harassment as “ Any vexatious behavior in the form of repeated and hostile or unwanted conduct, verbal comments, actions or gestures that affect an employee’s dignity or psychological or physical integrity and that results in a harmful work environment for the employee.” The goal of the law is to improve workplace morale and reduce the number of sick days lost to disability or emotional distress.

Under the new law employers will:

• Promote respectful interpersonal communication and manage all staff in the same fair manner;
• Take quick and appropriate action to manage conflicts, not allow the situation to deteriorate;
• Clearly define the responsibilities and tasks of each employee;
• Develop a confidential procedure for reporting complaints;
  Consider specialized counseling services to help prevent psychological harassment from occurring.

• Become aware that you will expect others to treat you only as well as you treat yourself.
• Learn to speak to yourself in a kind and noncritical way.
• Put up a sign somewhere in your house that says: “I deserve to be treated with dignity in all situations, at all times, by all people."
• Take small steps to treat yourself better, engage in simple activities that give you pleasure or peace of mind even for a brief period. Extend these periods gradually.
• If your dignity is being harmed, look for support from someone who is not suffering the abuse but is uncomfortable with your suffering
• If you don’t like the way someone is behaving towards you, tell them to stop.
• Do not accept that you have to spend your time around people who devalue you. You have the right to decide who you will be around.
• Gradually develop your own code of dignity - nonnegotiable groundrules for how you expect others to treat you.
• Begin to pay attention to the way you feel when your dignity is being harmed.
• Ashamed, invisible, inferior? YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Remember that anyone who has been treated badly has similar feelings.
• If you are caught up in a pattern of being treated disrespectfully - at home, at school, at work - document the mistreatment. With the help of someone you trust, get clear about what is happening before finding a safe place to state your case.
• Learn to stop going along when others mistreat you. No one deserves to be treated badly, and anyone who says so is not telling the truth.

• Be aware of how subtle behaviors teach disrespect to your children - for example, rolling up your car windows when driving through a poor neighborhood or looking away when you walk past someone in a wheelchair.
• Use humor to disarm anyone who may be trying to pull rank.
• Keep promises to people who have less power than you.
• Begin to ask questions about people in authority. Do they use their power to help others, or to keep them down? Have they earned their authority or are they just assuming it?
• Allow yourself and others to make mistakes without being insulted or embarrassed.
• Listen respectfully to someone else’s point of view, even though you may disagree.
• Beware of idol worship - putting others on a pedestal so they are no longer answerable to the same code of behavior as the rest of us.
• If you ever take your frustration or anger out on someone weaker than you, figure out if those feelings arose from the way someone treated you. Once you begin to identify the pattern, you may be able to interrupt it before further harm is done.
• Explore the ways you can handle unpleasant feelings besides unloading them on others.
• Choose not to go along with a group mentality that says its OK to gang up on others, even if the group gives you a sense of belonging or makes you feel more protected.
• Treat everyone with good manners.
• Do not label yourself or others.
• Look people in the eye.

• Show your children how to speak up if they see another child being treated unfairly, and encourage them to do so.
• Whenever possible, arrange to have your children attend schools that are racially and socially diverse.
• Expose your children to extracurricular activities that include children from various races, religions, socioeconomic backgrounds, ages, and physical abilities.
• Explain to your children how prejudicial remarks harm people.
  
• Tell someone what a difference they have made in your life.
• Choose not to participate in disrespectful jokes or conversations. Find a reason to leave the room if necessary.
• Focus on what you appreciate most about a person you like least.
• Give your attention to someone you might normally avoid interacting with.
• Someone with a disability. Someone of another culture. Someone of a different faith.
• Try engaging with others without the safety net of your job title or academic credentials.
• Listen to what people want for themselves instead of telling them what to do.
• Surround yourself with people who believe everyone deserves to be treated with dignity.
• Help someone learn how they can stand up for themself.
• Acknowledge the diversity of contributions from others, no matter their size.
• Assist or advocate for immigrants, homeless individuals, the disabled, the elderly, anyone who is especially vulnerable to assaults upon their dignity.
• Offer assistance to someone who may not be getting the help or recognition they need - an elderly neighbor, a new mother, a caregiver.
• Listen to someone’s story.
• Support anti-bullying efforts in schools and the workplace.
• Get involved in initiatives that seek to even the playing field between the “haves” and the “have nots.”