Sexual Harassment in the Work Place - Research Paper Example

? Sexual Harassment in the Work Place Introduction It has been found from the past records that the issue of sexual harassment had been in existence since long but lacked a proper definition. The thoughts that headed for sexual harassments in the traditional period were assumed to be different. The root of this kind of a disturbing behavior can be traced to the change of outlook which occurred owing to the attainment of increased parity of women in their respective workplaces. The industrial uprising and its transformation was found to bring in certain alterations in terms of the customary roles played or undertaken by both the genders. The altering responsibilities or tasks triggered the significance related to gender specialization along with giving rise to a fresh sort of workplace with regard to the Western society. The role of women remained no more restricted in just family affairs which increasingly specialized roles related to both the genders. The requirement of economic security began soaring as individuals started relocating in other cities. This growing need of economic security accelerated the need for specialization in the field of jobs. Thus, the role of men and women began to be comprehended more lucidly which gave a proper understanding regarding the kind of behavior that was predicted along with the manner of carrying it out. Subsequently, the responsibilities of both men as well as women became typecast (Lightle & Doucet, 2007; Boland, 2005). Women who were found to be working generally indulged in certain variety of jobs which majorly involved other women. Women who belonged to the upper class were regarded as the “weaker sex”, as they were considered to be essentially supported by men. Therefore, women became gradually more dependent which endowed men with greater supremacy. As the aspect of power balance was found to support men, they considered themselves free to indulge in activities which are presently regarded as sexual harassment. The absence of such increased supremacy with regard to women hardly left them with choices other than accepting such behaviors. Sexual harassment mainly took place due to the encouragement of managers at work place. The reason behind such troubling acts were measured to be owing to the altering role of women as significant number of women started being a part of the workforce by accepting responsibilities and positions that were customarily male oriented (Lightle & Doucet, 2007; Boland, 2005). Hereby, the paper intends to provide a detailed description of the current scenario of sexual harassment in the workplaces of United States following a comprehensive definition of the aspect. Moreover, the changing trend of workplaces in the US with this regards shall also be taken into concern in this study. Sexual Harassment and its Aspect It was found with regard to the above mentioned context that the discrimination of sex often leads to sexual harassment. Sexual harassment can be defined as, “the unwelcome verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature that is severe or pervasive and affects working conditions or creates a hostile work environment” (Equal Rights Advocates, 2012). Harassing a person sexually is regarded just as a section or part related to sexual harassment and is considered to be unlawful. For instance, passing an illegal comment on women may be defined as sexual harassment as it can lead to mental torture of that particular person. Moreover, it is not necessary that while harassing anyone, the harasser has to be of opposite sex as to the victim. The harasser and the victim both can also be of same sex (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, n.d.). Sexual harassment law is an integral part of Employment Discrimination Law and sometimes may relate to Civil Rights Law in the United States (US). Therefore, it can be stated that sexual harassment is an unwanted attempt and an activity that is subject to the court of law. There are two categories into which sexual harassment has broadly been categorized; they are Quid Pro Quo and Hostile Environment. Quid Pro Quo relates to the aspect of demanding sexual activities or favor in exchange of promotion for a particular individual or even a promise that in exchange of such sexual favors the employee will not be terminated from the workplace. The second category of sexual harassment that is the Hostile Environment has been conversely mentioned to be the most common form of sexual harassment as this is typified as the kind of harassment which usually makes the employee get into uncomfortable situations at work place. This kind of harassment does not actually affect the workplace, but due to various offensive comments, it often leads to mental pressure of the employee (HG.org, 2012). With this concern, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) has established various rights and duties for the individuals registering complaints against sexual harassment at workplaces. The EEOC declares various reasons for sexual harassment and provides a legal guide to the sexually harassed person. These guidelines entail demanding reasons from the organization for terminating an individual, denial for promotions with no proper reasons and various financial damages taking place in an organization in written form. All these acts make EEOC to repay the employee’s salary and making the organizations accept of being a part of such kind of sexual harassments. Many states have also developed Fair Employment Practice (FEP) to fight against sexual harassment at workplace. Now-a-day’s companies have their sexual harassment policies enforced within their respective workplaces making it necessary for the employees to abide by the laid down rules as well as regulations of those organizations in case of occurrences of such sexual harassments. In case of absence of remedial actions for such cases of harassment by the organization, the employee is advised to make complains against that particular organization through EEOC or FEP or any other such similar bodies (HG.org, 2012). EEOC intends to provide significant consideration to the happenings of sexual harassment as it keenly notices the circumstances in which the incident took place along with the kind of sexual harassment and situation in which that supposed occurrence took place. In this context, the verifications are done with due consideration to the situation and the circumstances under which the sexual harassment had happened. A person who is sexually harassed is advised to directly charge the harasser in order to discontinue such actions and make a point that it should not occur in the near future. At workplace, sexual harassment can only be stopped if the employers are encouraged to fight not in favor of sexual harassment. It should be made clear to the workforce that such illegal actions will not be tolerated at all. This can only be done if the organization takes instantaneous actions and effective measures towards the complaint that has been made by an employee regarding sexual offences (The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2002). For the past 20 years, especially women who are working at various workplaces have been observed to increasingly object or oppose sexual harassments. Previously, women used to tolerate sexual abuses to a large extent; however, in the current day context, women intend to fight in opposition to sexual harassment through various campaigns that are developed by the government. For instance, in the European countries, 42-50% of women who are working at various organizations face sexual harassments at their workplace. In the similar context, 30-40% working women are being harassed at their workplaces in Asia-Pacific countries. It has further been observed that in South African society, on an average around 77% of women are victim of such harassments at their workplaces. According to the facts revealed by the International Trade Union, it was found that sexual harassment is mostly carried out by men on women. Women are mainly harassed due to their appearance, relationship, age, disability, background and their professional status. It is not necessary that every time women would be victim of sexual harassment as men can also be a part of sexual harassment and they also fall victim to such harassments (ITUC International Trade Union Confederation, 2008). Existing Scenario of Sexual Harassment in Work Places in the US Presently, it has been observed that sexual harassment is soaring at a rapid pace in the workplaces of United States. Assumptions has been made that 30000 complains will be registered in opposition to sexual harassment this year at US. On the other hand, even though people face immense trouble due to sexual harassment, almost 30% of the sexually harassed population is observed to avoid making any complain in the US. Taking into deliberation the assumptions and the stated facts, it can be inferred that above 100,000 individuals are being sexually harassed every year in the US. Although this particular figure has been observed to be reasonably low in contrast to the entire amount of workers forming a part of the workforce in the US, the present scenario has been gauged to be of growing legal responsibilities as well as legal actions in this regards. It has also been mentioned in this context that individuals have been observed to be sexually harassed in their workplaces more than in their normal society. This implies that the occurrences of sexual harassments in the US are on the rise. Hence, the government should take strong measures toward such increasing rate of sexual harassments. It is believed that as the presence and activeness of women is rapidly increasing in the business environment, the number of sexual harassment cases is also quite likely to increase. This is because of the constant established male subjugated work culture entailing mockery and illegal comments which are presumed to hardly undergo any change (Harvill, 2006; Webb, 1997). It is worth mentioning that sexual harassment not only becomes an obstacle towards an individual career but it also hinders his or her physical health and emotional balance as well. Sexual harassment can also lead towards various disorders in an individual such as headaches, digestive problems, sleepless nights, no proper eating habits and weight gain as well as weight loss. It is due to this reason that American Psychiatric Association has labeled sexual harassment to be “severe stressor”. It is owing to the fact that sexual harassment not only gives rise to emotional distress and low confidence within the victims or the individuals but also ruins the economic life of the engaged individual. This kind of disturbing incidents in the work environment usually compels the targeted individual to quit from the job which at times makes that particular person lose a rewarding job along with the professional benefits offered by the organizations (Harvill, 2006; Webb, 1997). According to the results of a certain survey or research that was carried out by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) in the year 2010, it was found that numerous organizations in the US recorded a rise in terms of their allegations of sexual harassment within the time frame of a year. These accusations were observed to be made by both the male as well as the female workers. Around 25 percent of the considered organizations in the survey mentioned an increase in the allegations related to sexual harassment that was being registered presently (Cates & Machin, 2012). The diagram below depicts the scenario of last ten years indicating the frequencies of sexual harassment incidents in US workplaces. The below data gives a representation of the amount of accusations related to sexual harassment that were reported by Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) along with the Fair Employment Practices Agency (FEPA) in the previous 10 years. The data also includes the solutions that were provided against the charges under Title VII in relation to Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Cates & Machin, 2012). Sexual Harassment Charges by EEOC & FEPAs: FY 2000- FY 2010 Source: (Cates & Machin, 2012) In US, sexual harassment is considered to be an unlawful act under the Federal Law as well. Subsequently, a few modifications were made in Title VII relating to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for the reason of encompassing the aspect of sexual harassment that occurred in the workplaces. Title VII is learnt to entail the state, federal as well as the local government bodies followed by employers who engaged employees amounting to around 15 or above in their respective organizations. The law even entails the facet of rendering protection to the victims from any kind of retribution from the accused. This guards the victims who step forward to record a grievance, so that those individuals are not terminated or moved down in rank in an unfair manner (Cates & Machin, 2012). Changing Trend in the Work Place The government of US has made several measures in order to eradicate sexual harassment that are observed to yet persist in workplaces. The top level managers are requested to take care of their employees so that the occurrence of any kind of sexual harassment can be effectively prevented. The industries should consult with various agencies in order to solve the worst problems of sexual harassment and work out the best available solutions towards such incidents. The organizations involving such remedial actions will facilitate in completely eradicating sexual harassment with regard to the workplaces (Sexual Harassment in the Federal Workplace, n.d.). In general sexual harassment has happened to be the foremost feature of the US nation and especially in the American business environment concerning the aspect of employment growth rate. The entire issue of sexual harassment falls under the category of anti-discrimination laws. The Civil Rights Act was recorded to be passed in the year 1964 for the reason of getting rid of sexual harassment and to work on various discriminations taking place in the society. The Act had also given rise to EEOC to uplift the law and also provide various guidelines toward the prevention of such issues. The guidelines basically included the cases for sexual harassment taking place at various working areas. The dimensions encompassed by the Civil Rights Act were also expanded in the year 1991 with the further addition of punitive damages to the existing compensatory reimbursements. Additionally, in California few companies were asked to pay a large sum of money to the victims who had suffered from sexual harassment as punitive damages (Fiedler & Blanco, 2006). From the above discussion, it can be observed that there was an increase in percentage of sexual harassment. Even though the government went through various surveys, many people became aware especially at workplaces that sexual harassment can take place with anyone Sexual Harassment in the Federal Workplace, n.d.). Recently in US, the federal and the state courts have elaborated the definition of sexual harassment. Compared to other countries US have the laws that are very much strong against sexual harassment. One of the reasons of having strong laws in US is that there are a number of women activist groups who are fighting against such issues (Fiedler & Blanco, 2006). Notably, various behaviors indicating sexual harassment can take place which is quite likely to continue at workplaces as the total number of female employees grow rapidly. It is very much important to understand which actions should be accepted and which actions should not be accepted while working in a workplace in order to comprehend behaviors indicating sexual harassment. In this 21st century, women are working in large numbers at various organizations; however, there are still differences regarding the gain of power between both men and women. Men are considered to be more powerful in comparison to women mainly due to the reason that women occupy less authority in the society. However, all the cases that are related to sexual harassment may not be due to problems that are at the personal level. Furthermore, sexual harassment problems can also be solved by having face to face interactions in the workplace. These interactions can only happen if the organization is willing to support that particular individual who has faced the problem of sexual harassment (Rifkind, 2005; Saunders, 1994). Conclusion Sexual harassment has various directions which not only restricts it to just physically disturbing behaviors but also mental and emotional imbalances. Whenever a person is sexually harassed, he or she is often observed to face a few economic problems which tend to affect the social life of that individual in the long run. The economic problem that enters into an individual’s life due to sexual harassment is observed to have prolonged consequences throughout the victim’s life. Sexual harassment has negative and fatal impact on an individual at times even leads to putting an end to the individual’s being. Various measures have been taken in order to remove sexual harassment at work places, but the ratio is identified to be increasing rather than decreasing in the US. As women are getting educated and the world is changing rapidly, women are highly expected to come into work force to be independent. In this changing scenario, women will have to work equally with men where numerous sexual harassment incidents can take place. However, sexual harassment can be controlled by producing various actions and remunerations in the workplace itself. If these policies are not followed by the individuals, necessary steps should be taken against the harasser. If the organization follows such policies of removing sexual harassment from the organization, the instances of sexual harassment can be controlled to a large extent. References Boland, M. L. (2005). Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. United States: Sphinx Legal. Cates, S. V. & Machin, L. (2012). The state of sexual harassment in America: What is the status of sexual harassment in the US workplace today? The Journal of Global Business Management, 8(1); pp. 133-138. Equal Rights Advocates. (2012). Equal rights and economic opportunities for women and girls. Retrieved from http://www.equalrights.org/publications/kyr/shwork.asp Fiedler, A. M. & Blanco, R. I. (2006). The challenge of varying perceptions of sexual harassment: An international study. Institute of behavioral and applied management, pp. 274-291. Harvill, R. (2006). Sexual Harassment: Trend or Turning Point. Oklahoma State University, pp. 1-85. HG.org, ( 2012). Sexual harassment law. Retrieved from http://www.hg.org/sexual-harassment-law.html ITUC International Trade Union Confederation, (2008). Stopping Sexual harassment at work. A trade union guide, pp. 1-11. Lightle, J. & Doucet, E.H. (2007). Sexual harassment in the workplace. Axzo Press, pp. 1-8. Rifkind, L. J. (2005). Sexual harassment. Federal aviation administration, pp. 1-26. Sexual Harassment in the Federal Workplace, (No date). Trends, Progress Continuing Challenges. Retrieved from http://www.mspb.gov/netsearch/viewdocs.aspx?docnumber=253661&version=253948 Saunders, H. (1994). Sexual harassment at work: a training workbook for working people. United States: The Institute. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, (2002). Facts About Sexual Harassment. Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-sex.html U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, (No date). Sexual harassment. Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sexual_harassment.cfm Webb, S. L. (1997). Step Forward: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: What You Need to Know! New York: MasterMedia. Read More