Harassment Rampant at IMF, Say Female Employees

Dominique Strauss-Kahn wasn’t the only womanizer at the IMF. The bank’s executives are so notorious around the office that many female employees avoid wearing skirts lest they attract undue attention, the New York Times reports. IMF rules specifically allowed romance between employees until earlier this month, and employees say that’s led to some very loose sexual norms. “It’s sort of like Pirates of the Caribbean; the rules are more like guidelines,” says one prominent female economist who once worked there.

Since the Strauss-Kahn scandal broke, a number of others have come to light. One of Strauss-Kahn’s potential successors, Kemal Dervis, resigned Wednesday following revelations that he had an affair with a woman who now works at the IMF. Records and interviews also reveal that officials ignored multiple complaints that various executives had tried to pressure their employees into sleeping with them. “They said they took it seriously,” says one woman, “but two minutes later they were turning around and acting like everything was OK.” (More Dominique Strauss Kahn stories.)