What is Sexual Harassment?
Sexual harassment is considered as a form of harassment which includes any unwelcome conduct or comment which has a negative impact on the victim’s work environment. Sexual harassment, like other types of harassment are considered as a form of discrimination. Examples of such behavior include:
1. Unwelcome remarks, jokes or innuendo
2. Verbal abuse, intimidation or threats
3. Offensive pictures, graffiti, cartoons or sayings
4. Offensive email messages
According to (Gruber 1997; Gutek 1985) women and men may experience sexual harassment but women are more likely to be sexually harassed. Moreover, women are more likely to experience negative job-related consequences of sexual harassment such as quitting or losing a job due to unwanted sexual advances (Dansky and Kilpatrick 1997).
Types of Sexual Harassment
There are three types of sexual harassment as identified by Gelfand et al (1993). These include gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention and sexual coercion, each of which consists of a variety of verbal and nonverbal behaviors. Gender harassment involves behaviors that generally result in conveying hostile and degrading attitudes about women such as by gender-based hazing. Unwanted sexual attention consists of behaviors that are more widely recognized as harassing such as repeated attempts to establish a romantic relationship after refusal; unwanted touching; and sexual imposition or assault. Sexual coercion, the least common, yet most universally recognized type of harassment, involves bribery or threats (either explicit or implied) for sexual cooperation.
Workplace Bullying
Workplace bullying is defined by Namie and Namie (2000) as the deliberate hurtful and repeated mistreatment of a Target (the recipient) by a Bully (the perpetrator) that is driven by the bully’s desire to control the actions that Target. Workplace bullying encompasses all types of mistreatment at work as long as the actions gave the effect, intended or not, of hurting the Target, if felt by the Target.
Bullying is characterized by the following criteria:
1. It is aggressive behavior or intentional harm doing
2. It is carried out repeatedly and overtime
3. It is carried out in an interpersonal relationship characterized by an imbalance of power (Einarsen et al 2002).
The term “workplace bullying” is used deliberately to convey the coercive or persecuting nature of the behaviour. It effectively labels what can be a bewildering and confusing experience which victims find very difficult to describe…The incidents are often petty and vindictive having the effect of intimidating or terrorizing their victims, sapping their self-confidence and even making them fearful of entering the workplace (Thomson 1997).
Workplace bullying and sexual harassment are both forms of harassment. Bullying behaviors is based in the misuse of power in human relationships while sexual harassment is a form of discrimination that is based on gender.
How Does the Law deal with Sexual Harassment?
In the United States, the concept of workplace sexual harassment developed first as a legal concept and subsequently as a concept empirically studied by social and behavioral scientists. In the US, workplace sexual harassment is considered a form of gender-based discrimination under Federal Law. In 1980, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a set of guidelines that have become the cornerstone of legal and policy definitions of sexual harassment throughout the United States. These guidelines describe two general types of sexual harassment: (1) unwelcome sex or gender-related behaviour that creates a hostile environment and (2) quid pro quo behaviors, where the unwelcome behaviour becomes a term or condition of employment or advancement.
1. Hostile Work Environment – where the atmosphere of the workplace is made hostile by sexual harassment, even though there has been no tangible economic loss (Robinson et al 1993). Hostile environment harassment captures those behaviors, such as sexual jokes, comments, and touching, that interfere with an individual’s ability to do her/his job or that create an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment
2. Quid Pro Quo Sexual Harassment – where a tangible economic detriment due to refusal to succumb to sexual advances (Robinson et al 1993). Quid pro quo harassment involves sexual threats or bribery that are made a condition of employment or used as the basis for employment decisions (Welsh 1999).
The 1980 EEOC Guideline
The 1980 EEOC Guidelines took the position that unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute unlawful sexual harassment when one of three situations exists (Schultz 1998; Woodzicka and Lefrance 2005; Gutek 1995):
1 Submission to the conduct is made a term or condition of employment; or
2 Submission to or rejection of such conduct is used as the basis for an employment decision affecting the employee; or
3 Such conduct has the purpose or effect of either (a) unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance, or (b) creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.
Prevention of Sexual Harassment
The organization and its management plays an important role in the prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace. In the event that sexual harassment occurs in the workplace, the employer assumes liability for the hostile environment sexual harassment of the following conditions are met:
1. The employer has knowledge of the unwelcome conduct.
2. The employer is in a position to control the offending conduct.
3. The employer fails to take immediate and appropriate corrective action *Baxter and Hermle 1989).
The employer has a big responsibility in preventing sexual harassment in the workplace. As Sherwyn (2008) puts it, for the employers to response promptly and effectively, there must be a strong policy that will aim at the prevention of harassment before it actually happens. Should sexual harassment occur, the employer is also responsible for acting on complaints in a timely and fair manner.
Each and every charge of sexual harassment, regardless of how trivial, must be taken seriously by the management of an organization. The EEOC encourages employers to take effective preventive action to discourage sexual harassment.
According to its “Policy Guidance Memorandum” (1988), an effective preventive program should include express prohibitions against sexual harassment that are clearly and regularly communicated to employees and effectively implemented. There should also be internal procedures for receiving, investigating, and resolving sexual harassment claims. This means that it is in the best interest of the organization to develop a sexual harassment policy (Robinson et al 1993).
Guidelines For Developing A Sexual Harassment Policy
Although the exact wording of sexual harassment policies will vary, the following five questions are usually addressed:
(1) How does the organization view sexual harassment?
(2) What is sexual harassment?
(3) What are some examples of sexual harassment?
(4) What can the employee who is being sexually harassed do?
(5) How will the organization handle the complaint? (Robinson et al 1993)
References
Dansky, B. S., and Kilpatrick, D. G. (1997). Effects of Sexual Harassment. In O’Donohue, W. T. (ed.), Sexual Harassment: Theory, Research and Treatment, Allyn and Bacon, Boston, pp. 152-174.
Einarsen, S., Hoel, H., Zapf, D. and Cooper, C. L. (eds.). (2002). Bullying and Emotional Abuse in the Workplace: International Perspectives in Research and Practice. New York: Taylor & Francis.
Gelfand, M. J., Fitzgerald, L. F., and Drasgow, F. (1993). The Structure of Sexual Harassment: A Confirmatory Analysis across cultures and settings. Under review.
Glendinning, P. M. (2001). Workplace Bullying: Curing the Cancer of the American Workplace. Public Personnel Management, 30(3): 269.
Gutek B. A. (1985). Sex and the Workplace. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Gutek, B. A. (1995). How Subjective is Sexual Harassment? an Examination of Rater Effects. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 17(4): 447.
Gruber, J. E. (1997). An Epidemiology of Sexual Harassment: Evidence from North American and Europe. In O’Donohue, W. (ed.), Sexual Harassment, Allyn and Bacon, Boston, pp. 152-174.
Gruber, J. E. (1997). An Epidemiology of Sexual Harassment: Evidence from North American and Europe. In O’Donohue, W. (ed.), Sexual Harassment, Allyn and Bacon, Boston, pp. 152-174.
Namie, G. and Namie, R. (2000). The bully at work: What you can do to stop the hurt and reclaim your dignity on the job. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks.
Robinson, R. K., Allen, B. K., Franklin, G. M. and Duhon, D. L. (1993). Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: A Review of the Legal Rights and Responsibilities of All Parties. Public Personnel Management, 22(1): 123+.
Sherwyn, D. (2008). Roundtable retrospective 2007: Dealing with sexual Harassment. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 48(2), 145-150.
Schultz, V. (1998). Reconceptualizing Sexual Harassment. Yale Law Journal, 107(6): 1683-1805.
Thomson, C. (1997). Workplace Bullying Project. Adelaide: Working Women’s Centre of South Australia.
Welsh, S. (2002). Gender and Sexual Harassment. Annual Review of Sociology, 169.
Woodzicka, J. A. and Lafrance, M. (2005). The Effects of Subtle Sexual Harassment on Women’s Performance in a Job Interview. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 53(1-2):67+.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment