You knew it was just a matter of time.
ESPN is the worldwide leader in sports, a company that big that are predominantly males in this climate was destine to have stories of sexual harassment.
In this case many of the women of ESPN says they are forced to work in a toxic work environment.
Here are some of their stories via the Boston Globe.
Some women said that the environment at ESPN can be so hostile — and plum positions for female sports journalists so precarious — that they hid pregnancies and felt pressured to take short maternity leaves in order to protect their positions. One anchor even did her scheduled broadcast while she was having a miscarriage to prove her commitment to her job, according to former employees.
Another woman, one of the few solo female anchors on SportsCenter, said she was told her show was moving in another direction and she’d no longer have a job on it weeks before she went on maternity leave last year. She is one of several who said they were given less desirable positions or laid off before, during, or after maternity leave.
“ESPN has failed to address its deeply ingrained culture of sexism and hostile treatment of women,” said Adrienne Lawrence, who filed the complaint this summer against ESPN.
But charges of insensitivity to women surfaced again last year when broadcaster Erin Andrews testified that ESPN would not let her return to work until she did an interview in 2009 about a stalker who leaked videos of her undressing at a hotel during a work trip in order to prove that she didn’t release the materials herself
Many people who described concerns with the atmosphere at ESPN declined to speak on the record because they feared losing their jobs or being blackballed from other sports outlets who do business with ESPN. Some were reluctant to identify the alleged harassers because they worried it would out their own identities and subject them to retaliation.
While many declined to speak for the reason above.
Lawrence was very clear with her accusations.
Flip the page for her stories and others.