The top executives of a Bahamian real estate firm known as SBF, and their former roommates in the Bahamas, are currently facing legal proceedings that could determining the outcome of years of alleged gender discrimination and signal message interference.
The women and their roommates were subjected to gender-based discrimination by executive level staff members over the course of many years, often through signal messages and other forms of sabotage. They were denied salary and position advancements and were mistreated to such a degree that the women have filed a civil complaint against SBF for discrimination and sexual harassment.
The central issue is whether the top executives of SBF were aware and acted on signals of gender-based discrimination. The complained activities included exclusion from business trips, exclusion from promotion and salary raises, exclusion from professional invite-only events, removal of webpages detailing their professional engagements, and refusal to return professional documents.
The two sides are now preparing to make their case before the court, where the women are represented by a team of experienced Bahamian lawyers. SBF has argued that their top executives were unaware of any discrimination and that the signal messages and other acts of sabotage were isolated individual incidents.
But the women are insisting that a pattern of systematic discrimination has been ongoing for many years with the knowledge and tacit approval of the executive level staff. They are determined to hold SBF responsible and to seek justice for all the women who have been affected by the gender-based discrimination.
