Introduction
Sexual harassment is an unwelcome
sexual advance, unwelcome request for other sexual favors or other unwelcome conduct
of sexual conduct which makes the person offended or humiliated. Work
environment sexual harassment refers to situations where the employee’s work
environment is made intimidating or offensive due to the unwelcome sexual conduct.
These kind of acts affects the performance of employee’s work.
According to the article taken into
context (Human Resource Protection Agency, 2018) unlike sexual assault,
sexual harassment is not a criminal offense in Canada. Sexual harassment in
workplace has not received a clear spotlight as workplace bullying has received
in past few years but this has dramatically changed in few months.
The Canadian Labour Code defines
sexual harassment as any conduct, comment, gesture, contact of a sexual nature that
is likely to cause offense or humiliation to any employee; or that might on
reasonable grounds, be perceived by that employee placing a condition of sexual
nature on employment or on any opportunity for training or promotion.
In organizations and institutions
in Ontario Canada have a duty to take steps to prevent and respond to sexual
harassment; this means that employees should take precautions that it does not
happen and must investigate any complaint regarding sexual harassment. In 2016,
the Ontario Government amended the Act and added “sexual harassment” and made
it mandatory for all employer’s harassment policies to include provisions on
sexual harassment.
Sexual harassment can include:
• Making unnecessary physical
contact, including unwanted touching (e.g. demanding hugs or stroking someone’s
hair)
• Invading personal space
• Using language that puts someone
down because of their sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender
expression
• Using sex-specific derogatory
names, homophobic/transphobic epithets, slurs or jokes.
• Leering or inappropriate staring
• Targeting someone for not
following sex-role stereotypes (e.g. comments made to a female for being in a
position of authority)
• Showing or sending pornography,
sexual images, etc. (e.g. pinning up an image of a naked man in the bathroom)
• Making sexual jokes, including
forwarding sexual jokes by email
• Rough or vulgar language related
to gender aka ‘locker-room talk’
• Spreading sexual rumors, “outing”
or threatening to “out” someone who is LGBTQ2S (e.g. sending an email to
colleagues about an affair between a supervisor and another employee)
• Sexually propositioning a person
or bragging about sexual prowess
• Demanding dates or sexual favors
Data analysis
According to the
article a literature review was done on the findings from the survey of 996
HRPA (Human Resource Protection Agency). This survey was conducted online from
18-28 February, 2018.
As this analysis is made on the
context from the article by (Human Resource Protection Agency, 2018) , the main target
group was Ontario, Canada. Now according to the above figures 82% of Ontario
workplaces include sexual harassment and sexual assault in their general
harassment policy. On the other hand 16% of the Ontario workplaces have a
separate stand-alone policy for sexual harassment and sexual assault. This explains that majority of the workplaces
in Ontario have very strict policies regarding sexual harassment and they are
following according to the law.
When analyzed they found that 96%
have an official workplace harassment policy in place. But sadly 53% of the
members believe that there are an average instances of sexual harassment in
their workplace. And 17% of them said that they have witnessed an employee being
sexually harassed at work. Which indicates that there cases of sexual
harassment reported with knowledge.
Further studies show
that not everyone complaint to their employers on sexual harassment. According to
the survey done by Gandalf group, 94% of the executive members believe that
sexual harassment is not a problem in their workplace. This shows the poor
leader ship quality of the executives. While 93% of them believe that their
corporate culture prevents sexual harassment.
When HRPA investigated furthermore,
43% of women said they had been sexually harassed at work compared with 12% of
men. Upon complaining they also found out that women who report sexual
harassment find that nothing changes in their workplace as a result of their complaint.
But according to the 70% of the executives, they believe that their senior
management is responsive to recommendations made around how to deal with sexual
harassment.
When asked about whether their
workplace is actively encouraging a culture of not tolerating sexual harassment
or is more reactive in responding to situations as they arise; the executive’s
responses were almost clashing. That is a 57% of them said that they actively
foster a culture of zero tolerance and 40% of them currently take a more active
approach and respond as situations arise.
How to prevent sexual harassment in workplace
Sexual harassment in workplace is a
common problem worldwide. Some have strict policies against it and some ignore
the complaints regarding the problem. However it is also a major problem in
Maldives too. Maldivian women who have encountered workplace sexual harassment
face a dilemma: either be silent and endure the intimidation or raise their
voice and risk unemployment and shame.
In order to stop these harassment
and make people more aware about this topic a social media campaign was made as
#nufoshey (Don’t Harass) and Mi Verin Koba which means Where are these
leaders. (Maldives Times, 2017)
The harassment in the work place
can be avoided by following some practices as:
- All organizations should adopt a stand-alone sexual harassment and assault policy or revisit their current policy to ensure it is adequate.
- All organizations should take steps to ensure all employees are aware of sexual harassment and assault policies. Which means they should provide ongoing training on human resource personal on such complaints, conduct witness interviews, gather evidence and provide proper training and education sexual harassment.
- All organizations should have a policy drafted and implemented by someone who holds a professional human resource designation.
- Organization leadership should empower HR staff to implement, train and enforce sexual harassment policies within their organizations.
Conclusion
In conclusion sexual harassment in
workplace is considered as a legal offence. The employers should be more
attentive towards their employee’s complaints. Employers should do more about
protecting their employees and should encourage zero tolerance on sexual
harassment. It is very important to understand what it is and how it will
affect the employees mentally if their voice is shut down. In this modern and
technologically high profile era we should and can be able to speak out about
what is wrong. Now there is no need to hide or stay silent in fear of society
or being unemployed.
References
Human Resource Protection Agency. (2018). Doing
Our Duty Preventing Sexual Harassment In The Workplace. Retrieved from
Human Resource Protection Agency:
https://www.hrpa.ca/Documents/Public/Thought-Leadership/Doing-Our-Duty.PDF
Maldives Times. (2017, November 08). Workplace
sexual harassment in the Maldives: the struggle for justice. Maldives
Times.