Bullying & Harassment

The Business Woman’s Network does not tolerate any harassment, victimisation, bullying or any such conduct that has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile, or an offensive environment. This includes harassment, victimisation, bullying because of sex, race, national origin, religion, disability, sexual preference or age.

We are committed to providing a caring, friendly and safe environment for all business women so they can participate in a relaxed and secure atmosphere.  Bullying of any kind is unacceptable at The Business Woman’s Network.

If bullying does occur, any business woman should be able to tell and know that incidents will be dealt with promptly and effectively.  This means that anyone who believes that bullying is happening is expected to a meeting coordinator or the Founder, Mandie Holgate.

What Is Bullying?

Bullying is the use of aggression with the intention of hurting another person.  Bullying results in pain and distress to the victim.

Bullying can be:

• Emotional being unfriendly, excluding (emotionally and physically) sending hurtful text messages, tormenting, (e.g. hiding spikes/clothing, threatening gestures)
• Physical pushing, kicking, hitting, punching or any use of violence
• Racist racial taunts, graffiti, gestures
• Sexual unwanted physical contact or sexually abusive comments
• Homophobic because of, or focussing on the issue of sexuality
• Verbal name-calling, sarcasm, spreading rumours, teasing

Why is it Important to Respond to Bullying?

Bullying hurts.  No one deserves to be a victim of bullying.  Everybody has the right to be treated with respect.  Athletes who are bullying need to learn different ways of behaving.

The Business Woman’s Network has a responsibility to respond promptly and effectively to allegations of bullying within our membership.

Objectives of this Policy

• All coordinators, members and contractors should have an understanding of what bullying is.
• All coordinators, members and contractors should know that Bullying will not be tolerated and what procedure to follow should they believe Bully is occurring.
• At the BWN we take bullying seriously. All business women should be assured that they would be supported when bullying is reported.

Procedures

1. Report alleged bullying incidents to a coordinator or the founder, Mandie Holgate.
2. The bullying behaviour or threats of bullying must be investigated and the bullying stopped quickly
3. An attempt will be made to help the bully (bullies) change their behaviour
4. If mediation fails and the bullying is seen to continue further action will be taken.

It is a condition of the relationship with The BWN that all coordinators and affiliates will adhere to the rules of the policy. Any breach of the policy will be taken seriously and may result in appropriate action being taken.

Social Media

The Business Woman’s Network’s website and social media is owned by The Business Womans Network founder at all times.

Coordinators and certain affiliates will be granted permission to access and post on the website and social media platforms.

Any posts on The Business Woman’s Network website or social media shall be taken as written by The Business Woman’s Network, for the purposes of improving the business of the woman who attend BWN events, networking, developing the brand and widening the audience.

All Coordinators and affiliates to the BWN must display clearly on social media platforms that the views presented are their own and not those of the BWN.

In the event of any issues or events unfolding online, access to The BWN website and social media may be revoked from individuals or all other parties than the founder.

Confidentiality of all business women, relevant information or business actions applies to all online engagements.

The BWN coordinators handbook contains supporting information relating to:

• Best practices for desired content
• Recommended frequency of the posts
• Which networks to use
• How to interact/respond to users

It is a condition of the relationship with The BWN that all coordinators and affiliates, and others who use The BWN website or social media, will adhere to the rules of the policy. Any breach of the policy will be taken seriously and may result in appropriate action being taken.

Data Protection

As individuals, we want to know that personal information about ourselves is handled properly and we and others have specific rights in this regard. In the course of its activities The Business Woman’s Network will collect, store and process personal data, and it recognises that the correct and lawful treatment of this data will maintain confidence in the organisation and will provide for successful business operations.

The types of personal data that The Business Womans Network may be required to handle include information about coordinators, suppliers, customers and women who attend events or use the social media platforms, and others with whom it communicates.

The personal data, which may be held on paper or on a computer or other media, is subject to certain legal safeguards specified in the Data Protection Act 1998 (the Act) and other regulations. The Act imposes restrictions on how The Business Woman’s Network may process personal data and a breach of the Act could give rise to criminal sanctions as well as bad publicity.

It is a condition of the relationship with The BWN that all coordinators and affiliates, and others who obtain, handle, process, transport and store personal data, will adhere to the rules of the policy. Any breach of the policy will be taken seriously and may result in appropriate action being taken.

What Information is Covered?

Two types of data are covered by the Data Protection Act 1998:

• Personal Data

This refers to information relating to a living individual where the individual can be identified from the data. Examples would include: names, postal addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, information regarding job descriptions or any other details which would enable the individual to be identified.

• Sensitive Personal Data

The Act defines categories of sensitive personal data, namely, personal data consisting of information as to:

(a) the racial or ethnic origin of the data subject;

(b) her political opinions;

(c) her religious beliefs or other beliefs of a similar nature;

(d) whether she is a member of a trade union (within the meaning of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992);

(e) her physical or mental health or condition;

(f) her sexual life;

(g) the commission or alleged commission by her of any offence; or

(h) any proceedings for any offence committed or alleged to have been committed by her, the disposal of such proceedings or the sentence of any court in such proceedings.

The BWN will ensure that any personal or sensitive personal data held will be processed fairly and lawfully for limited purposes and in an appropriate way, that is relevant for its purpose.

All data will be accurate, kept for no longer than necessary for the purpose and processed in line with data subjects’ rights in a secure manner.

The information provided to the BWN will not be transferred to people or organisations situated in countries without adequate protection.

A formal request from a data subject for information The BWN holds about them must be made in writing to the founder, Mandie Holgate.

It is a condition of the relationship with The BWN that all coordinators and affiliates, and others who manage date for and on behalf of The BWN, will adhere to the rules of the policy. Any breach of the policy will be taken seriously and may result in appropriate action being taken.