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Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
Author: Linda Tancs
Editor: Heather L. Armstrong
Date: 2019
From: Encyclopedia of Sex and Sexuality: Understanding Biology, Psychology, and Culture(Vol. 2. )
Publisher: ABC-Clio
Document Type: Topic overview
Pages: 2
Content Level: (Level 5)
Full Text:
Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that encompasses unwelcome sexual advances,
requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature. Although many
victims are reluctant to report their experiences, surveys show that it affects more women than men.
Prompt reporting helps resolve issues quickly, and workplace training aids in preventing further
occurrences.
A federal law known as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits many forms of discrimination,
such as sexual harassment. Title VII applies to private employers with fifteen or more employees,
including state and local governments. It also applies to employment agencies, labor organizations,
and the federal government regardless of the number of employees. To be unlawful, conduct must
explicitly or implicitly affect an individual’s employment; unreasonably interfere with an individual’s
work performance; or create an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment. In the workplace,
actions such as touching colleagues, repeatedly requesting dates, making sexual comments, and
using vulgar language are all potentially problematic.
Because of low reporting rates, it is difficult to quantify the experience of sexual harassment in the
workplace. Low reporting rates are due to a variety of factors, such as fear of retaliation from
employers, concern for the harasser, shame, belief in the futility of the grievance process, or fear of
being blamed for the harassment. Reporting is also complicated by varying perceptions of what
constitutes sexual harassment. For example, the offensive conduct can take place between members
of the same sex. In addition, the harasser can be the victim’s supervisor, an agent of the employer, a
supervisor in another area, a colleague, or an outside party. The victim does not have to be the person
harassed but could be anyone affected by the offensive conduct. Unlawful sexual harassment may
also occur without economic injury to or discharge of the victim. Despite the challenges in determining
the prevalence of sexual harassment, studies show that it affects women more than men, with at least
one-third of women in the United States experiencing some form of sexual harassment. One in ten
men report experiencing it as well, and a quarter of men say they worry about being falsely accused of
sexual harassment.
It is important to file a complaint with a supervisor or human resources department promptly to
increase the chance of a quick resolution. Once a harassment complaint is filed, it cannot be retracted.
An employer is obligated to investigate all complaints, and supervisors are obligated to report any
suspected or known harassment. Employees who have filed complaints should continue to perform
their normal work duties and report any retaliation. The retaliation laws are broad and may protect
coworkers of the victim as well as witnesses in the investigation.
Prevention is the best tool to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace. Many employers take
steps to prevent sexual harassment from occurring by communicating to employees that sexual
harassment will not be tolerated. One common method for doing so is by providing a written
antiharassment policy to employees, outlining what harassment is, telling all employees that
harassment
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will not be tolerated, and setting out how employees should respond to incidents of harassment. Other
methods of dealing with harassment include sexual harassment training and establishing an effective
complaint or grievance process offering immediate and appropriate action when an employee
complains.
Linda Tancs
See also: Sexual Harassment ; Sexual Harassment in College ; Sexual Harassment in Education .
Further Reading
Saguy, A. C. (2003). What is sexual harassment? From Capitol Hill to the Sorbonne (3rd ed.) Oakland:
University of California Press.
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (n.d.) Facts about sexual harassment. Retrieved
from
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2021 ABC-CLIO, LLC
Source Citation (APA 7th Edition)
Tancs, L. (2019). Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. In H. L. Armstrong (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Sex
and Sexuality: Understanding Biology, Psychology, and Culture (Vol. 2, pp. 654-655). Greenwood.
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