Causes and Effects of Sexaual Harrasment in the Workplace - Research Paper Example

Running Head: CAUSES & EFFECTS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE WORKPLACE Causes & Effects of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace and Section # of course> Thesis Statement The paper talks about sexual harassment and its causes and effects in a workplace. It presents the notion that sexual harassment has always been a part of the corporate life and is increasingly penetrating in the workplace environment. It describes what are the causes and factors that trigger sexual harassment generally in the society and specifically in an organization and its effects on the victims, the organization and eventually the entire society. The paper mentions the types of women who are most vulnerable to sexual harassment due to different factors. It also discusses who the harassers are and under what types can they be categorized. This classification of harassers helps in explaining various causes more effectively and makes them easier to understand once the behavior of the harasser is defined. In short, the write-up is a comprehensive description of sexual harassment, its causes and its effects in a workplace environment. Causes & Effects of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace What is Sexual Harassment? Harassment is a term that refers to one’s conscious or unconscious repeated act that troubles, annoys and vexes some other person. It is hence an unwanted and unwelcomed act that displeases the person on the receiving end. (Guerin, DelPo, 2007). Sexual Harassment thus is sex or gender based harassment usually directed towards women by men residing or working etc. in a close proximity situation mainly at places such as workplace, educational institutions, etc. where the interaction level between the harasser and the victim is high and frequent. In most cases, the targeted females are in a lower hierarchical position to the harassing males and are not powerful enough to raise their voice and be heard. (Repa 2007). Sexual harassment may be verbal (unpleasant and offensive comments & remarks), nonverbal (unacceptable gestures and expressions, display of offensive pictures, etc.) or physical (touching) etc. if left unaddressed, the issue may become big enough to lead to mishaps like rapes etc., however, proper precautions should be taken before taking an action against the harasser in order to prevent any drastic action like attempts of blackmail, rape or even murder by the harasser I order to save himself from the punishment and the humiliation. (Zippel, 2006). Preventing Sexual Harassment Sexual Harassment Policy In order to prevent sexual harassment and to discourage such attitude and environment at the workplace, the organizations should have a proper Sexual Harassment Policy including a General Harassment Policy, a detailed policy to prohibit undesirable and inappropriate conduct at the workplace and a policy for conducting thorough and effective sexual harassment investigations. In addition to this, the organization should appoint people responsible for making sure that these policies are being implemented effectively and properly in accordance to the sexual Harassment laws and legislations of the country the company is operating in to avoid any legal actions against the organization. (Guerin, DelPo, 2007). Sexual Harassment Laws Most countries, including US, UK, Australia, Denmark, France, Israel, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Russia, etc. have very well defined laws and legislations against sexual harassment, sexual discrimination and workplace ethics & code of conduct. These laws protect the targets of the harassment against any such act and empower them to take an action against the harasser if such a situation occurs. (Conte, 2000). Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Formally defining sexual harassment, it is any unwelcomed and uninvited sexual gesture from one or more colleagues, sub-ordinates or supervisors/managers at the workplace resulting in embarrassment, displeasure, shame and discomfort for the victim of the offense. It interferes with the target’s job and inhibits the productivity. (Prekel, T. / Cape Gateway, 2001). Sexual harassment is becoming increasingly common in the workplace environment. Females are becoming more and more professionally competitive and aware of their rights and needs. In a male dominated world, this poses a threat to male ego. Hence, as a resort to prevent females from advancing ahead of them, men often use this tactic of harassing women sexually trying to suppress them in a work environment. This is one of the major reasons why sexual harassment takes place in the workplace. (Paludi, Paludi, 2003). Victims Majorly, women are the victims of sexual harassment, no matter what their age, religion, race and ethnicity, how they look like, what they wear or what they do in the organization. (Paludi, Paludi, 2003). However, women with some specific traits may be more vulnerable to sexual harassment compared to other women due to certain weaknesses in their personalities or the roles they play in the society. These women include heads of household (since they cannot “afford” to lose their job), divorcees (since they are easy to manipulate emotionally), women with low self-esteem and self-confidence (since they do not believe in themselves and cannot take a stand for their own self), women who are desperate for success and eager to be accepted and liked (since they would do anything to succeed), women who are too friendly (since they cannot say “no” to people) and saleswomen (since their job is pleasing people or else they lose their job). Such women face the highest level of difficulty in the workplace when it comes to sexual harassment and are abused the most. (Prekel, T. / Cape Gateway, 2001). Harassers Harassers are the men who indulge in sexual harassment. There may be various motivations behind the harassment and many ways to harass females in a workplace environment. In order to understand the causes of sexual harassment in the workplace, it is important to know the various types of harassers. Following are some common types of harassers; however, many harassers may fit into more than one category at the same time. (Guerin, DelPo, 2007). The Great Gallant This is the one who pays extra attention towards he victim passing unnecessary remarks that tend to get personal, embarrassing the target. (Prekel, T. / Cape Gateway, 2001). The Opportunist This is the one who is always looking for an opportunity to get physical and/or personal. (Prekel, T. / Cape Gateway, 2001). The Power Player This is the one who harasses the victims to reinforce their power and authority and to satisfy his false-ego. This type of harassment may be linked to blackmail. (Prekel, T. / Cape Gateway, 2001). The Serial Harasser This is the one who carefully plans the whole harassment scheme, building an impression that is very difficult to associate with such a behavior, only to hit when the target is the most vulnerable. He may be psychologically disturbed, and is very difficult to identify. (Prekel, T. / Cape Gateway, 2001). The Situational Harasser This is the one who would indulge in such an activity only under certain specific situations that vary from person to person. (Prekel, T. / Cape Gateway, 2001). The Counselor/Helper This is the one who tends to be a mentor-like figure to the victim, totally unexpected to indulge in such a habit. (Saguy, 2003). The Intellectual Seducer This is the one who allures females through his intellectual appeal and takes advantage of them. (Repa 2007). The Incompetent This is the one who cannot accomplish much in his life and hence is not popular among females, so he resorts to harassment to get to the opposite sex. (Zippel, 2006). The Unintentional This is the one who doesn’t even know when he crosses the line. (Repa 2007). The Stalker This is someone who constantly follows a certain victim and tends to take advantage of her every now and then. (Zippel, 2006). Causes of Sexual Harassment Societal Norms and Beliefs The most important reason why sexual harassment occurs is the norms and believes of the society. In most parts of the world, the societies are highly male dominated and men are always given more power and liberation to do what they want as compared to their female counter parts. Women are hence suppressed and harassed in every society, by men who perceive themselves as superior to the females and consider it “OK” to harass and discriminate against women as they are the powerful ones. (Repa 2007). Also, in such societies where men are always in charge, females may tend to lure men towards themselves and gain a share in power by controlling the actions and decisions of those men. (Boland, 2005). Moreover, in many societies women are brought up in such a manner that they are made to believe that females are born to please men and do as directed. Such females are then more vulnerable to harassment by the respective men. (Zippel, 2006). Moral Values & Cultural Differences In today’s world, the moral values and beliefs of the people have been badly tarnished. (Prekel, T. / Cape Gateway, 2001). Activities like extra-marital affairs, one-night-stands, flirting and seduction are increasingly becoming common especially at the workplaces. Moral Laxity is hence a fast growing phenomenon that leads to sexual harassment. (Heathfield, S. / About.com). Furthermore, as the workplaces are becoming more and more multi-cultural, the moral values of people from various cultures are becoming increasingly contrasting. Hence, there is a lot of ambiguity between acceptable and inacceptable behavior of different people working together. (Boland, 2005). For example, in many Asian and Middle-Eastern cultures, hugging or shaking hands with the opposite sex is an inacceptable behavior while it is a common practice in the western world. Thus, one may perceive a person’s behavior sexually harassing, although in reality, it is not meant to be so. Marital stress, divorce and other marital problems may also lead to sexual harassment as a result of frustration but it is more common in cultures where such issues cannot be commonly discussed and the people going through such situations are not properly catered to resulting in sexual harassment. (Prekel, T. / Cape Gateway, 2001). Hunger for Power & Authority Men are usually authoritative and attracted to power. Sometimes, when females come in an authoritative positions and advance in their careers, men perceive it as a threat to their career and authority. (Prekel, T. / Cape Gateway, 2001). They cannot accept a woman ruling over them and get frustrated, which leads to an anti-women attitude in them. In such situations, they harass women purely for pleasure and self-satisfaction and derive great contentment out of it. (UW-Madison, 2009). They believe that by doing so, they can achieve workplace control and this augments their self-perception of superiority. They may tend to get aggressive and violent against females and may also indulge in group or gang harassment to suppress their female co-workers in order to stop them from succeeding ahead of them in the workplace. (Saguy, 2003). Credibility & Victim Blaming There are certain factors that lead to the facts turning against the victim herself resulting in injustice and open prevalence of sexual harassment in the workplace. Incidents like females blaming decent men to achieve personal motives etc. make it difficult for other women to avoid harassment and complain against it. (Saguy, 2003). Male gender loyalty (the decision maker being a man), the decision-maker being a harasser himself and strong organizational position of the harasser etc. also make it easy for the culprit to roam around unpunished and support a harassing environment. (Prekel, T. / Cape Gateway, 2001). Moreover, the victim’s delay in reporting the assault, guilt and self-blaming may cause the blame to be redirected towards the female with the notion that she herself enjoyed and promoted such an act. (Prekel, T. / Cape Gateway, 2001). Organizational Culture The culture of an organization is also a great determinant of prevalence or absence of a sexually harassing behavior. The organizational structure with mostly men in the upper hierarchical levels, careless work-environment with no policies regarding sexual harassment and discrimination etc., are some factors that promote sexual harassment in a work environment. (The Advocates for Human Rights, 2007). Effects of Sexual Harassment Effects on the Victim Sexual harassment affects the victims of the offence the most. These effects may be direct or indirect, and may have short-term or long-term effects on the victims. These effects may be categorized in the following classes: Health and Psychological Harm The first and foremost effect of sexual harassment on the victim is the psychological harm. The victim may suffer from depression, anxiety or panic attacks. She may spend sleepless nights or may suffer from nightmares resulting in loss of health and productivity. (The Advocates for Human Rights, 2007). The stress may also extend to a very long period of time even after the harassment has stopped and the victim may suffer from traumatic stress and the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). (Heathfield, S. / About.com). All this stress and depression would lead to retardation in one’s health and can cause constant headaches and prolonged ailments like diabetes and high blood-pressure and fatigue. (UW-Madison, 2009). They may feel shameful and guilty and would have a strong sense of betrayal and being violated & used. (UW-Madison, 2009). They would regard themselves as stranded and abandoned and would lose their self-esteem and self-confidence. They stop trusting people and tend to run-away from intimate relationships. Suicidal thoughts and attempts are also very common in extreme cases. (Prekel, T. / Cape Gateway, 2001). Thus, the victims of sexual harassment are emotionally drained and their personal and private life is completely destabilized. (Heathfield, S. / About.com). Financial Effects The victims of sexual harassment are highly distracted from their respective jobs and tend to spend more time thinking about the issue at hand. (Heathfield, S. / About.com). Therefore, their productivity level falls considerably low. This may result in demotions or loss of jobs. (Conte, 2000). Moreover, if the female worker disregards the harasser in a higher hierarchical position, she may be deprived of a much deserved promotion, bonus or a salary-increment or may be thrown out of the job as a punishment. (Heathfield, S. / About.com). Glass Ceiling in Career Growth Sexual harassment may also prove to be a glass ceiling in the growth of a women’s career preventing her to succeed in the workplace stagnating her career just because she is a female. (Paludi, Paludi, 2003). Defamation Harassed women may also suffer from defamation and insulting attitude from the society. Although the assault is not her fault, she has to go through many inappropriate comments and remarks from random people in the society. She would suffer from the shame and guilt of a crime that she never committed. (The Advocates for Human Rights, 2007). Torn Support Network In most societies, people tend to reject the women who have been subjected to sexual assault. They are deprived of a normal life and are continuously reminded of the mishap. They lose their friends and their support network is torn leaving them alone to face the world. (Paludi, Paludi, 2003). Effects on the Organization Sexual harassment also poses much harm towards the organization. There is a general disrupted environment throughout the workplace with uncertainty and disturbance leading to overall low employee morale. The productivity of both the victims and the harasser falls resulting in low productivity across the organization. (Prekel, T. / Cape Gateway, 2001). Absenteeism of the victims increases and team conflict occurs. The victims may feel vulnerable all the time and the job satisfaction and organizational commitment decreases. Employee turnover and premature retirement of the victims is also very common. (UW-Madison, 2009). Moreover, the organization may have to incur legal costs with the victims suing or filing other legal charges against the organization, which apart from the financial and legal costs, brings the company’s reputation down. (Boland, 2005). Effects on the Society If sexual harassment is prevalent in most of the organizations in a society, they pose many negative effects on the society in general. It causes the overall productivity to do down severely affecting the economy. (Guerin, DelPo, 2007). It causes social disruption and a general disorder in the society. Untrustworthiness, unreliability and dishonesty prevail and moral laxity increases. (The Advocates for Human Rights, 2007). General depression and low morale haunts the masses. Society is defamed in the world and tourism decreases as people do not wish to visit such a place. (UW-Madison, 2009). Conclusion Hence, concluding the discussion, it would not be wrong to state that sexual harassment is a curse for individuals, the organizations and the whole society overall. It is a monster that is slowly and gradually engulfing the entire planet and creating an environment of distrust, unreliability, dishonesty and fear. It promotes injustice and grants the male population an undue advantage over the females promoting gender biases and prejudices. It has very harmful effects on the economy, the productivity of the individual as well as the organization and demoralizes the entire society. Is high time steps should be taken to a high level in order to prevent and stop this menace before it gets out of hands because then it will be too late. REFERENCES Books Guerin, L; DelPo, A. (2007). The Manager’s Legal Handbook. Nolo. Repa Barbara. (2007). Your Rights in the Workplace. Nolo. Paludi, M; Paludi, C. (2003). Academic and workplace sexual harassment: a handbook of cultural, social science, management, and legal perspectives. Greenwood Publishing Group. Zippel, K. (2006). The politics of sexual harassment: a comparative study of the United States, the European Union, and Germany. Cambridge University Press. Conte, A. (2000). Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: Law & Practice, Third Edition. Aspen Publishers Online. Saguy, A. (2003). What is sexual harassment?: from Capitol Hill to the Sorbonne. University of California Press. Boland, M. (2005). Sexual harassment in the workplace. Sphinx Pub. Websites Prekel, T. / Cape Gateway. (2001, August 1). Sexual Harassment: Causes, Consequences and Cures. Retrieved April 17, 2010, from http://www.capegateway.gov.za/eng/publications/guidelines_manuals_and_instructions/S/63925 Heathfield, S. / About.com. Sexual Harassment – Harassment and Sexual Harassment in the workplace. Retrieved April 17, 2010, from http://humanresources.about.com/od/glossarys/a/sexualharassdef.htm The Advocates for Human Rights. (2007, May 9). Effects of Sexual Harassment. Retrieved April 17, 2010, from http://www.stopvaw.org/Effects_of_Sexual_Harassment.html UW-Madison. (2009, July 22). Sexual Harrassment – Information and Resources. Retrieved April 17, 2010, from http://www.oed.wisc.edu/sexualharassment/conse.html Read More