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Anne Robinson says women 'have a choice' and must accept workplaces are 'sexually treacherous'

(PA)
(PA)

Former The Weakest Link host Anne Robinson has spoken out about her experiences in the workplace and believes women must accept workplaces as ‘sexually treacherous’ environments.

Robinson, 73, has recalled her time in the media industry as a young journalist and how she was sexually harassed by powerful male colleagues.

Speaking to Radio Times about her new documentary that explores workplace abuse, she was frank and open about what she thought of the victimisation of women and the #MeToo movement.

‘I’m still not sure that younger women have worked out what they want,’ she began.

‘I thought my generation had broken the glass ceiling on the journey to equality.

‘But having passed on the warrior baton that enabled women to become prime ministers and heads of city institutions, it transpires they we’re still having to put up with inappropriate behaviour from men while not doing anything about it,’ she said on women speaking up and the way accusations are dealt with in 2018.

‘It angers me why this behaviour has been allowed to go on for so long.

‘I was also really shocked that women further up the pole weren’t doing more to curtail it,’ she blasted.

The star then went on to claim the sort of behaviour women are coming forward with is part and parcel of working life: ‘But workplaces are politically and sexually treacherous and I’m afraid women do have to accept that.

‘You have a choice. Do I get off the train and spend my life complaining and making a fuss, or do I stay on the train and make sure it never happens to me again?

‘I always chose the latter, but maybe I’m just a different sort of warrior.’

Anne Robinson as La Toya Jackson for a comedy sketch of Celebrity Big Brother, during the filming of Channel 4’s The Sunday Night Project. (PA)
Anne Robinson as La Toya Jackson for a comedy sketch of Celebrity Big Brother, during the filming of Channel 4’s The Sunday Night Project. (PA)

Speaking about how she used to deal when workplace harassment, Robinson said she took it with a pinch of salt: ‘I just used to sigh and curtly say, “Look, I’m very busy, please don’t waste my time.” I just thought the quicker I got to the top, the sooner I wouldn’t have to put up with this nonsense.’

Despite there being a gender imbalance in modern and indeed past era workplaces, she believes a woman should show her strength in the face of intimidation.

‘It’s important for women to show their strength and make it clear they’re not going to put up with this rubbish.’

And speaking of the harassment she suffered in her early years in the industry, she laughs off how trade union leaders allegedly used to chase he up stairs: ‘It sounds ghastly but I just thought it terribly funny.’

‘The same powerful guys who could call the country to a halt were the ones pathetically trying to get into my hotel bedroom,’ she revealed.

‘Tory and Labour conferences were exactly the same. MPs would drink too much at parties and lose all their inhibitions.

‘Fortunately, I was far too quick for any of them,’ she quipped.

She was previously criticised for saying how fragile women were unable to cope in the ‘treachery’ in the workplace, and her latest comments will likely trigger a lot of people as well.

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