Sexual Harassment In The Work Place

-

Harassment and sexual harassment are identified as types of sex discrimination and thus violate the principle of equal treatment for men and women (Numhauser-Henning, 2012). Harassment is defined as “unwanted behavior” based on people’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. Another definition for sexual harassment is any form of unwanted unethical sexual verbal, non-verbal, or physical conduct, with the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity, particularly when creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment (McGolgan, 2004).

As result, sexual harassment is defined as an unwanted sexual contact that makes a person fell uncomfortable. Sexual harassment is considered as a form of unlawful discrimination as well as a form of psychological and sexual abuse. The harasser does not have to be of the opposite sex; he or she may be totally unaware that his or her behavior patterns is offensive or represents sexual harassment, or he or she may be completely unaware that his or her actions may be unlawful. Usually sexual harassers chose their victims based on characteristics as lack of assertiveness, poor education, low self-esteem, age and other areas of vulnerability (Institute, 2012).


According to (Britz, 2007) there are several forms of sexual harassment. They are verbally, non verbally and physically. As the first one verbally means sexual allusions, comments, jokes related to sexual nature and sexual threats. Secondly non verbally means suggestive objects and pictures related sexual things, graphic commentaries, suggestive or insulting sounds or whistling and thirdly physical activities. It means unwanted physical contacts which includes touching, pinching, coerced sexual intercourse or assault.

Aside from the massive loses, sexual harassment has significant impacts for both individuals and organizations

Below are shows impact on organizations;

  • It increases team conflict and decreases productivity.

  • Decreases success and meeting of financial goals.
  • Decreases job satisfaction. 
  • Image of the organization will suffer financially, and reputation wise then complaints their seniors.
  • Loss of references and recommendations.

 Below are shows impact on individual; 

  • Decrease on work and/or school performance.
  • Loss of career and income.
  • Personal life has been exposed to public viewers which could take to depression.  
  • Loss of trust in the environment and people.
  • Loss of references and recommendations.

As the conclusion sexual harassment is considered one of the most important issues that might negatively affect an organizational environment; consequently, this research has been carried out in an attempt to minimize, if not eradicate, this effect. The harasser might be a male or female, and it is not necessary to be from the opposite sex.

The roles and responsibilities of employers, trade unions, managers and employees with respect to preventative initiatives should be described further in specific terms. Employers are seen to have a role in awareness raising and prevention and ensuring that the working environment is free of harassment; their role in developing policy statements and ensuring that these are implemented at every level is less evident.

  

References

Britz, E., 2007. The Perceptions of Employees Regarding Sexual Harassment in an Administrative Higher Educational Work Environment. s.l., s.n.

Institute, S. H. P., 2012. Sexual harassment training , s.l.: s.n.

McGolgan, A., 2004. Report on Sexual Harassment in the Workplace in EU Member , s.l.: s.n.

Numhauser-Henning, A. &. l. S., 2012. Harassment related to Sex and Sexual , s.l.: s.n.

 

Comments

  1. HR ZONE JINODAMay 3, 2021 at 6:36 AM

    Workplace sexual harassment laws tie these behaviors to the employment context – which generally means every employment situation and relationship. The prohibition covers not only behavior in the workplace itself, but also work-related activities (e.g. conferences and parties) and basically all the interactions between people who work together.

    The environment itself can also amount to unlawful sexual harassment where it’s sexually permeated or hostile. This could include a workplace where pornographic materials are displayed, or a culture where offensive jokes, sexual banter and crude conversations are the norm.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ranjana BandaraMay 4, 2021 at 6:51 AM

    Workplace sexual harassment is internationally condemned as sex discrimination and a violation of human rights.Sexual harassment in the workplace increases absenteeism and turnover and lowers workplace productivity and job satisfaction. Yet it remains pervasive and underreported, and neither legislation nor market incentives have been able to eliminate it. Strong workplace policies prohibiting sexual harassment, workplace training, and a complaints process that protects workers from retaliation seem to offer the most promise in reducing sexual harassment.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Maduka Udagama May 4, 2021 at 7:11 AM

    Good article.Women are the most of victims of sexual harassment at the workplaces. An unwelcome sexual request or an advance concerned as a sexual harassment. Some examples are staring or leering, unwelcome touching, request for sex, unwanted requests for dates, intrusive questioning on body or private life, insults based on sex and sexually explicit messages or physical contacts. Organizations need to implement policies against sexual harassment to make the working environment a safe place for better performance, employee retention and productivity.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hansika SamarakoonMay 4, 2021 at 9:34 PM

    The right to equality is a fundamental human right enshrined in the Constitution of this country. Sexual harassment or harassment is a violation of basic human rights. Therefore, all organizations are committed to providing a safe environment for their employees to carry out their duties freely without any sexual harassment or harassment. In Sri Lanka "Penal Code (Amendment) Act (No. 22 of 1995)" - The rules for this have been documented.

    ReplyDelete
  5. HR Times- Isuru WijayalathMay 6, 2021 at 4:21 AM

    Unfortunately, sexual harassment and assault happen far too often in the workplace. According to the researches, 1 in 7 women and 1 in 17 men have sought a new job assignment, changed jobs or quit a job because of sexual harassment and assault in the workplace.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Apsara RajapakshaMay 6, 2021 at 7:49 AM

    Good article. Once sexual harassment occurs, it is seen as a violation of women’s and men’s human rights. To tackle it means exploring the basis causes of discriminatory practices and understanding their many various regional, cultural and social contexts. Women tend to be a lot of at risk of sexual harassment because they often hold lower-paying, lower-authority and lower-status jobs compared to men. At the same time, even women in positions of authority may experience sexual harassment.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sudarshanie PeirisMay 7, 2021 at 4:11 AM

    Sexual harassment can be difficult to explain because there are many different situations of it. A group of New York Attorneys says that "Sexual harassment is considered to be repeated requests for dates or sexual favors, lewd comments, posting or sharing of pornographic pictures when one person is made uncomfortable, and requests or pressure from a supervisor for sexual favors in return for promotion or continued employment for an employee".

    ReplyDelete
  8. KD JayakodyMay 8, 2021 at 11:17 AM

    There are two basic kinds of sexual harassment: unwanted advances and coercive behavior. unwanted sexual advances, to include: inappropriate sexual demands and invitations to social events Any non-coercive forms of sexual touching, such as hand-holding, can also be sexual assault. to do something having to do with transmitting or sharing pictures of a harassing kind

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Factors Affecting To Employee Retention In A Supportive Work Environment

-
Image
Employee retention is basically mean “intention and interest of employees to remain in the current workplace when they are encouraged to remain in the organization for a long period or until the ongoing project complete in other words contract employees. Humans are an asset to the organization which impacts majorly. It is a mandatory requirement in an organization to retain those human assets. Firstly, needs to identify the main organizational facts that will affect employee retention in an organizational and also how are those affected to employee retention. As per the study of (senevirathna, 2017) compensation, work life balance and working environment were noted directly has an impact to employee retention. As the first factors compensation was based on the amount of both financially and non-financially remuneration provided to employees by their employers in payment for their valued service  (Osibanjo, 2014) . Compensation includes basic wage, incentives, transport allowan...
Read more

Future of Human Resource Management

-
Image
The HR industry has seen a lot of improvement in the last decade. Artificial intelligence is on the rise and the expansion of gig economy. The escalating push for more diversity. And, most recently, a global pandemic that has changed the lives of millions of people while redefining how and where work is done. In this article, we'll take a look ahead to see which HR patterns will continue to drive change and which new ones will emerge to determine the future of work. Figure 1 Source: Select Hub (2021) ·              Top HR Trends for 2021 Virtual work is here to stay The rise of the new way to work, a move away from the conventional work style toward one that is more worker-centrist and  flexible, was projected as a pattern for 2020, exemplified by the growing acceptance of working remotely and the rise of the gig economy. Figure: 2 Source: IBM COVID 19   The pattern that the work is done has changed drama...
Read more

The Conflict of Work Life Balance

-
Image
Work life balance means the level of prioritization between personal responsibilities and professional work in an individual’s life with maintaining supportive and healthy work environment. According to the study of (Dhas, 2015) 1 in 4 employees face high level of conflict in between work and family life. So work life balance is a serious problem that’s currently trending in workers, their employers and society. Today employees have many competing life style with so much of responsibilities such as work, children, spouse, elderly parents, house work and volunteering and combination of these place stress on individuals and communities. It seems this typical issue arisen with the development of technology. Because it removes the physical environment of working g and remote working is rise. Work from home highly impacted and no clear line between professional and personal life and increased the responsibilities in work without any scheduled time and working for longer hours. It shows t...
Read more