Written By: Emma Sarran Webster, Allure

At President Donald Trump's State of the Union address on January 30, members of the Democratic Women's Working Group (DWWG), the coalition of Democratic women in the House, wore black in solidarity with the #MeToo and Time's Up movements. Many also invited sexual assault and harassment survivors as their guests. As DWWG chair Representative Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) told Allure just before the address, "Wearing black will be a message of solidarity with workers across the country seeking economic security and a cultural shift that enables men and women to work side by side, free of sexual harassment, and paid fairly for the value of their work."

Now, Frankel is calling for action on the issue of sexual misconduct in the service industry. Earlier this week, she and other members of the bipartisan Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues, which Frankel co-chairs, hosted a hearing titled "Beyond the Headlines: Combating Service Sector Sexual Harassment in the Age of #MeToo." Here, women in the service industry shared their experiences of harassment and assault in the workplace, highlighting the discrimination that plagues the service sector. Just beforehand, Frankel spoke with Allure about the urgency of this issue, the day-to-day reality many service workers face, and what Congress can do to support them.

ALLURE: There has been a lot of focus on sexual assault in Hollywood and in the government over the past several months. Why is it important that we add the service industry to this national conversation?

LOIS FRANKEL: This is an economic issue for women and families. A lot of people say it's about sex — it's not about sex. It's about people abusing their power over others and depriving them of being able to care for their families because of environments in their work which are very, very abusive. There's been a lot of attention given to the survivors of abuse by people like Harvey Weinstein and Matt Lauer — and not to take anything away from what [those survivors] suffered, but we wanted to shine a light on service-related industries, where [a lot of] the survivors or the victims are not coming forward because they are truly powerless.

There have been some good articles in some of the media, so it hasn't been a totally barren situation, but what we know is that there is sexual harassment in every industry across the board... Abuse in the workplace basically robs mostly women, but of course, some men who are abused, of the livelihood they deserve and the work environment they deserve and should have... Imagine being a waitress in a restaurant, or being a bartender at a hotel, or being a flight attendant and having to deal with abusive customers. We're not even talking about your boss, we're talking about customers and having to keep your job, so suffering in silence.

[Restaurant workers] are below-minimum-wage earners for the most part; they're depending on tips and abusive customers that they basically have to tolerate so that they can pay their mortgage. We want to shine a light on this for two reasons: Not only because we may find some areas [where] we need to change laws, but I think as important or more important, we want to shine a light on these abuses so that industries can start to look at their own policies and their own culture.

ALLURE: When you started looking into sexual harassment in the service industry, was there anything you were surprised to learn?

LF: I'm going to have to make an admission: I consider myself a feminist, as aware and sensitive to violence against women [as I am], I can just say that I never really stopped to think about it. I go into restaurants all the time, and I never thought about what the waitress has to endure. I've seen rudeness of people who yell at a waitress, but I never thought about what I think is sort of this hidden secret in so many of these industries. So I think just the fact that this is a real issue. I think this is going to be the biggest enlightenment for most people.

ALLURE: How vast is the issue?

LF: I would say it is rampant in every industry. What I think will be unusual is to find the industry where it does not occur. I dare somebody to show me an industry where it's not happening.

ALLURE: How have the Time's Up and #MeToo movements impacted Capitol Hill efforts to combat sexual harassment?

LF: As you know, we've had our own set of problems here. There have been abuses by members of Congress that have become pretty transparent, [that] were hidden for many years. And we have done our own overhaul in terms of the laws to protect the victims, and also to make sure there's due process. You have to protect your employees, and you also have to have due process for accusers and for people who are accused.

We've overhauled our process to have passed a bill, the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 Reform Act. I understand the Senate has agreed to it, and we're going to try to get it into our spending bill that's going to pass [this week]. So hopefully by the end of [the] week, there will be new laws in place that apply to the Congress which will basically speed up the process for when there are accusations, in terms of getting it to a conclusion and giving the accusers a little bit more protection. And there's a provision in it that will require members to pay back the government if there's a settlement made.

ALLURE: What can Congress do to help other industries?

LF: That's really the purpose of these hearings [we are planning]. We're trying to shine a light on some of these industries. This set of hearings we'll hear from some of the survivors in the service industry; our next set of hearings we will hear from some women who are in male-dominated professions, like the tech industry; then we will have a hearing where we have a good discussion on possible changes of laws [and] changes of policies. We will showcase some industries that have made really good changes that have significantly reduced sexual harassment.

Our goal is not just going to be [determining] what [Congress] can do...but [how to change] the culture of the way we work and what goes on in the workplace. It is against the law to sexually harass people, but as we expect we'll hear from the hearings, so many of the victims are so powerless in their jobs that they don't come forward and they endure the abuse because they have to support their families and they are afraid to come forward. It's very important that these various industries...figure out what they can do to change the culture of the workplace to better protect their employees. When you look at the restaurant industry, for example, [servers] have to endure a lot to get their tips. Is there a less abusive way to get waitresses and waiters paid? Maybe [we have to think] about how [to get] better pay without having to rely on tips, or restaurant owners being made aware of abusive customers and not allowing them in.

We will showcase at some point what was done in the tomato industry in Florida, where [there was] a pact agreement ([the Fair Food Program]) between farm workers and retailers to require safe workplaces, and when there was a violation they had serious economic consequences. Some of it might be thinking outside the box; but if you have, for example, a hotel where the abuse is rampant, maybe they shouldn't be on Trip Advisor.

And what I'm hoping is going to happen is when we start to hear examples of industries where the workplaces got safer and we hear what they did, this...will start to engage a bigger discussion within various industries where they're going to learn from each other what they need to do to have safe, respectful work environments for men and women where they can work side by side [and] can be free from abuse, not only from each other but [also] from customers.

ALLURE: What message do you want to send to victims of sexual harassment?

LF: The message is you are not alone, and you are not powerless, and we're going to do what we can to make these safer work environments — most importantly so that men and women can work safely and be able to support their families. Because that's, in the end, what it's about for most of these people. It's being able to earn a living and climb the ladder, not having to drop out from work because they're being sexually abused.