.
Sexual Harassment
& Gender
Different Perspectives & Research
Findings
How Sexual Harassment is viewed
What contributes Sexual
Harassment? (wk 6:2)
SexualH
1
U of Lethbridge
(Personal Security Policy)
Harassment:
• conducts or comments-intimidating, threatening,
demeaning or abusive. May be accompanied by
direct/indirect or implied threats to grade (s),
status, or job.
• Between people of differing authority or/similar
authority
• At individual/group
• Impact of creating an hostile environment:
hostile & limits individuals in the pursuit of
educational, research, work or personal
development goals
SexualH
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Definition
• Includes but not limited to unwanted sexual
advances, unwanted requests for sexual
favours, & other unwanted verbal or physical
conduct of a sexual nature either
explicitly/implicitly making a term or condition of
an individual’s educational, employment or
personal development progress..
• Includes hazing: inc but not limited to initiation
activities: abusive or humiliating & which subject
the object of the activity to physical or emotional
danger (http://www.uleth.ca/policy/ for further
info)
SexualH
3
Interpersonal Stressor: Sexual
.
Harassment
• `
• Unwelcome conduct -- detrimental
effect on work environment or job
performance
• Quid pro quo
– employment or job performance is
conditional on unwanted sexual
relations
• Hostile work environment
– an intimidating, hostile, or offensive
working environment
SexualH
4
What is Harassment? http://www.owjn.org/issues/sharass/guide.htm (Sang Hyeob & Team)
• Someone is harassing you if:
– he is doing things to make you feel uncomfortable;
– he is saying things to make you feel uncomfortable;
– he is putting you at risk in some way.
• The harasser will pick anything that makes you seem different
from him. You might be harassed because of your:
– gender;
– race;
– disability;
– age;
– looks;
– sexual preference;
– religious beliefs;
– family;
– birth place;
– political beliefs (including union activities).
SexualH
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• Sexual harassment is any unwanted attention of a
sexual nature, like remarks about your looks or
personal life. Sometimes these comments sound like
compliments, but they make you feel uneasy. Sexual
harassment can include:
– degrading words or pictures (like graffiti, photos or
posters);
– physical contact of any kind;
– sexual demands.
• Racial harassment is any action that expresses or
promotes racial hatred and stereotypes. It can be
obvious or subtle. It can include:
– spoken or written putdowns;
– gestures;
– jokes;
– other unwanted comments or acts
SexualH
6
• Racial harassment can be hidden in questions or
remarks that seem positive. Here are some examples:
– "You are really pretty for a black girl."
– "Tell me what it's like to always have your head and hair
covered."
– "Women from the Philippines are better at that than Canadian
women."
– "Native people are so good at crafts."
• Different kinds of harassment can happen at the same
time. Here is an example.
• Leslie worked at a government office. She was called
"nigger" and "dyke" by her co-workers. A male co-worker
told her that he was the "real man" she always wanted
and offered to "change her. Anytime." She was told her
work was not as good as that of other, white, workers.
People said that she thought she was too good for her
job because of her university degree.1
SexualH
7
. Harassers often have authority in the
workplace. Your supervisor might be a
harasser. You might also be harassed by a
co-worker who wants you out of his way.
Or you might be harassed by someone
who works under you and doesn't like it.
The harasser wants to hold power over
you. He counts on your fear of
complaining. He may think you are an
easy target if there are few women where
you work.
SexualH
8
• `Sometimes harassment that occurs outside the
workplace affects your work. Actions like these can
cause problems or harm relationships among
employees:
– someone from work follows you or hangs around your home;
– phone calls and letters are sent to your home;
– things happen at staff parties or retreats.
• Some kinds of work can make you feel very vulnerable.
Here is an example:
• Regina works for a family as a live-in nanny. She came
to Canada for this job. She has no family and few friends
here. It will be several years before she can apply for
status as a landed immigrant or Canadian citizen. When
something goes wrong in her workplace, which is also
where she lives, Regina does not feel that she has
anyone to whom she can turn for help.
SexualH
9
`You have the right to ask your employer, your union, or an
outside agency like the Human Rights Commission to take
action against harassment.
• Shelley worked at a large corporation which she said
was "like a boys' club." She complained about sexual
harassment. The same day, she was harassed for
complaining. Only the supervisor, the man Shelley
complained about, and Shelley herself were supposed to
know. The "boys," even the ones in the union, stuck by
each other. They often made sexual remarks about
Shelley, or other women, to her face. They would joke
about not upsetting her. The workplace was often
postered with pin-ups. When Shelley handed a written
complaint to her supervisor, he said, "I don't need this
shit." After she left her job, she filed charges with the
Canadian Human Rights Commission against the
corporation. She charged her employer with
discrimination based on sex and with failing to provide a
work environment free of sexual harassment.
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`Is This Harassment?
• There are many clear-cut examples of harassment. Racist and
homophobic insults are harassment. When a boss demands
that an employee have sex or lose her job, it is clearly
harassment, and it is against the law. But there are many less
obvious examples. Many people are not sure if what they are
experiencing is harassment.
• Here are some examples of workplace behaviour:
– a man puts his arms around a woman at work;
– someone tells an offensive joke;
– someone says "You look great," or "Your hair looks terrific," or "Did
you get any last night?"
• These may or may not be examples of harassment. It depends
on the situation. Where two people are friends, a comment like
"your hair looks terrific" could be a compliment. If the same
comment is made by a stranger on the street, it feels very
different. If your boss leans over your desk and whispers the
comment in your ear while you are working, it feels different
again. The important questions are: do you feel comfortable
with this person making this comment? And does he have any
reason for believing that his comments are acceptable and
welcome
SexualH
11
Here is another example. A group of factory
workers have always told off-colour jokes. They
are all comfortable with each other. No one is
trying to offend anyone, and no one takes the
jokes seriously. Since they only work with each
other all day, they don't have to worry about
upsetting anyone else. The jokes might offend
some people, but they are not harassment in this
situation. If a new person joined their production
line and was bothered by the jokes, they should
stop telling them. If they persisted with this
behaviour in the presence of the new worker,
they would be harassing the new worker
SexualH
12
`When you don't have support from other workers, it can be
very hard to fight.
• Stephanie works in the finance department of a large public
institution. She is an Ojibway woman, and is the only aboriginal
employee in the department. Four months ago the department
was reorganized and she now works with a different group of
people. They all know each other and have worked together
before. They go out to lunch together, talk to each other, and
share jokes and slang. Stephanie is left out. She tries to deal
with the problem by talking to the only woman in the group,
Kate. Stephanie explains that she feels excluded and that she
thinks this harms the work. Kate denies anything is happening.
She says, "We're not racists, if that's what you mean."
Stephanie has said nothing about racism and is a bit surprised.
• After this, the workplace becomes unpleasant. It is clear to
Stephanie that the others are talking about her. One morning
she finds a piece of paper taped to her desk that says
"employment equity Indian." When Stephanie complains to her
manager, he offers to transfer her. He says, "This is a good
group. They work well together. You obviously don't fit in."
SexualH
13
• `What Does the Harasser Think He is Doing?
• Harassment can be confusing. You many wonder why
the harasser is acting this way.
– He might not think he is harassing you.
– He might be very surprised when you call what he is doing
harassment.
– He might not mean to harm you. He is treating you the way he
has learned to treat women.
– He might feel that he has the right to behave this way with
you.
– He might not think his actions have a big impact on you.
– He might want to push you out of a job that he thinks is for
men only.
– He might be angry because you are assertive or question his
way of doing things.
• BUT
– He might know he is upsetting you or harming you. He may
enjoy the challenge. Maybe he feels more powerful when he
treats you badly.
• And no matter what he thinks he is doing, harassment
is wrong. He can stop. SexualH
14
`What Does the Law Say Harassment is?
• There is more than one definition of harassment under the law. Some
forms of harassment are clearer than others. More work has been
done on sexual and racial harassment than on other forms. Some
other forms of harassment are still being argued in court.
Harassment challenges are happening in a range of workplaces. The
Ontario Human Rights Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act
name different forms of discrimination. You can turn to the section
on The Human Rights Commission for more information. Some
harassment cases have gone through the courts. The decisions that
the courts have made set some precedents, or guidelines, for new
cases.
• In these precedent-setting cases, the courts have decided:
– when employers are responsible for workers being
harassed;
– what is and is not acceptable behaviour;
– to recognize the seriousness of the effects of
harassment on women.
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`An Empirical Investigation of Sexual Harassment
Incidences in the Malaysian Workplace (Amie & Team)
• This paper presents the findings of a study which
investigates the factors that contributed to incidences of
sexual harassment at the Malaysian workplace. A
questionnaire survey which was partly based on the Sexual
Experience Questionnaire (SEQ) developed by Fitzgerald et
al (1988) was carried out involving 656 respondents. The
findings showed that sexual harassment incidences are
rampant at Malaysian workplaces. The findings also indicate
that it is aggravated by several factors related to both the
organization as well as the individual worker. Specifically, a
working environment characterized by lack of
professionalism and sexist attitudes biased against women
would cause female employees to be more prone to being
sexually harassed. When the various demographic
characteristics were studied, the findings reveal that the
sample of women employees who face a greater risk of
sexual harassment tend to fall under the category of the
unmarried, less educated, and Malay.
SexualH
16
• Sexual harassment at the workplace is happening all too
often with many factors being aggravated by both the
individual employee as well as the organization. Like the
United States, 35 percent to 53 percent of women are
sexually harassed in the workplace, whether it be one of
the two categories the Code of Practice on the Prevention
and Eradication of Sexual Harassment cites as
harassment: sexual coercion or sexual annoyance.
Sexual coercion is when the harassment directly affects
the employee’s benefits; while sexual annoyance is any
conduct that the victim feels is offensive. The Code is
completely voluntary at this point, but it is starting to make
progress in that the employer can end up having
mandatory disciplinary actions against those who choose
to break the sexual harassment rule.
SexualH
17
• `one of the reasons - the socio-cultural view
(Sociocultural Model) of women, that men have a
large dominance over women in this particular
culture.
• The study also pointed to a more likely for an
unmarried, younger woman to be harassed than
an older married woman. Also the women in
more of a subordinate, unprofessional position
are more likely to experience sexual harassment
than a more professional woman. The studies
Ismail and Chee conducted showed that 17.7% of
women in unprofessional work environments are
victims of offensive language directed towards
them then those in a professional work
environment (where there is an incidence rate of
7.7%).
SexualH
18
• `A question of dress also arose when conducting the
survey. There is a definite correlation between how sexily
a woman is dressed for work and how the amount of
sexual harassment she receives. 16.5% of women who
admit to sometimes dressing sexy for work have a high
rate of sexual harassment, while the women who are not
comfortable dressing in this manner experience a very low
rate of harassment.
• The demographics of the respondents also seemed to
have an affect on how often they fall victim to sexual
harassment. Women who have a higher education are
much less likely to be harassed and if they are, they do not
put up with it as long as those women with a low level of
education. And lastly, it was found that women who are
Malay experience much higher levels of harassment than
those who are non-Malay.
SexualH
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`Sexual Harassment & Coping Strategies Amongst
Women in Manufacturing Organizations in Penang
Barathi Krishnan & Intan Osman (2003)
Sexual harassment is one of the most common forms of sexual
violation faced by women. Women are sexually harassed in the
streets, in public transport and at the workplace. Sexually
harassed women often find it difficult to seek appropriate
strategies against the harassers due to their social and
psychological backgrounds and beliefs. This study examined
whether women’s feminist attitudes, their gender-role beliefs and
demographic factors have any influence on the types of coping
strategies they would adopt in cases of sexual harassment. It
focused on emotion-focused and problem-solving strategies. Data
were collected via questionnaires from 207 female employees of
manufacturing organizations in Penang. The findings showed
that feminist ideology and gender-role beliefs have significant
impact on emotion-focused coping strategy. Race, education
level and position in the company showed significant impact
SexualH
20
towards problem-solving coping
strategy
Regardless of all its publicity and the fact that sexual harassment
problems have been acknowledged in the last two decades (L. G.
Seah, 2004), sexual harassment still remains hidden by most of its
victims in our society (Hotelling, 1991).
• Due to embarrassment, helplessness and fear of being known, and
worse still, of losing their jobs, most of the victims of sexual
harassment had to suffer in silence (Lim Ah Lek, 1999).
• In Malaysia (in the 1950s), a group of women estate workers in
Klang and Sitiawan, Central part of Malaysia went on strike in
protest of being sexually harassed (Wani Muthiah, 2001). a case
involving a female employee of Jennico Associates who has been
harassed by her employer was brought to the Malaysian court in
1999 (Wan Hazmir Bakar, 1999).
• Another case in point involved a woman employee of the National
Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) who was harassed and sexually
assaulted by Public Bank security guards in Kuala Lumpur (The
Star, December 4, 2002). These cases proved that incidences of
sexual harassment occur in varied working environment regardless
of the victim’s position in an organization
•
`
SexualH
21
•
`Gosselin (1984) concludes that sexual harassment is a
widespread phenomenon with social, economic and
psychological consequences for the victim. For the victims, it
often produces feelings of revulsion, disgust, anger, and
helplessness. It damages the victim’s health. It results in
emotional and physical stress and stress-related illnesses.
• Sexual harassment adversely affects employee morale, job
performance, productivity, and absenteeism among affected
employees. Women have been reported being fired or refused
advancement as a result of rejecting sexual advances (Errington
& Davidson, 1980). Moreover many female employees who face
sexual harassment choose to resign from their jobs rather than
fight or endure the offensive conditions (Gosselin, 1984).
• Although a small proportion of men experience sexual
harassment, it is mainly women in junior positions who are the
victims of harassment from male colleagues or superiors. Those
usually responsible for harassment have been proven in
previous research to be men of status either equal to or higher
than the victim and that physical harassment is more likely from
superiors than from colleagues (Stanford & Gardiner, 1993 in
Worsfold & McCann, 2000
SexualH
22
• `this study will examine whether women’s
feminist ideology, gender-role beliefs and
demographic factors influence women to
use different types of coping strategies as
these variables have been shown to affect
the way women cope with sexual
harassment (Brooks & Perot, 1991; Jensen
& Gutek, 1982; Fitzgerald et all, 1988;
Gruber & Bjorn, 1986; Gutek, 1985; and
Schneider, 1982).
SexualH
23
• `The definition of sexual harassment is fairly broad (Northcraft and
Neale, 1994).
• The guideline developed by the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC, 1980) which describes sexual harassment as
I) quid pro quo harassment, in which sexual conduct is made a
condition of employment; and 2) hostile work environment
harassment, in which sexual conduct unreasonably interferes with
work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive
work environment.
• The Malaysian Trade Union Congress stated that sexual
harassment comprised unwanted sexual advances, including
unnecessary physical contact, touching or patting, suggestive and
unwelcome remarks, jokes, comments about appearance and
verbal abuse. It also includes leering and compromising
invitations, use of pornographic pictures at the workplace,
demands for sexual favors and physical assault (New Straits
Times, April 4, 1996).
• IRS (1996a) presented almost a similar viewpoint on what
employers considered to be sexual harassment based on a survey
on students studying hospitality management in the UK higher
education system from which majority identified sexual assaults,
demand for sexual favors, and unwanted physical contact as
definite examples of sexual harassment. Offensive flirtation,
gender related derogatory remarks, suggestive remarks, and sexist
and patronising behaviour also forms of sexual harassment by
SexualH
24
more than half of the sample (Worsfold
and MacCann, 2000)
• `Coping strategies refer to the specific efforts, both behavioral
and psychological, that people employ to master, tolerate,
reduce, or minimize stressful events. (Taylor, 1998).
• The two general coping are emotion-focused and problemsolving coping. The former is a method of dealing with the
emotional effects of sexual harassment problem without
changing the causal situation, where the victims will keep quiet,
ignores the problem, blame themselves or resign without taking
any action,
• Problem-solving coping strategy is an attempt to analyze the
problem and determine its best solution. This strategy includes
complaints to the police, and through company’s procedures or
discuss with company’s upper management. (Folkman &
Lazarus, 1985). Folkman and Lazarus’ (1985), found that victims
choose either emotion-focused or problem-solving coping
strategies as a method of dealing with sexual harassment. T
• Most women use emotion-focused coping mechanisms which
are distancing and escape based, instead of problem-solving
coping mechanisms when trying to handle the problem of sexual
harassment (Folkman et al, 1985)
SexualH
25
• `The study used the sociocultural model which focuses on
the larger social and political context in which sexual
harassment occurs.
• This model proposes that harassing behaviors at work are
an extension of male dominance in the society in which
the organization is embedded (Farley, 1978; MacKinnon,
1979). It posits that workers bring their gender roles and
stereotypes into the workplace.
• The model asserts that men and women are socialized
for stereotyped interactions to occur. Men are expected to
display dominating and aggressive behaviors, whereas
women remain more passive and blame themselves for
being victimized. As a result of this manner of
socialization, men view their behaviors as natural and
justified (Vaux, 1993).
SexualH
26
• `The study also employs the sex-role spillover model (Gutek &
Morasch, 1982) which assumes that workers bring gender-based
expectations for behavior into the workplace, though these
beliefs are not appropriate for work which proposes that gender
identity is more salient than the worker identity.
•
Men and women, therefore, fall back on these gender-based
expectations in their work environments, where they are
inappropriate. Conflicts are more likely to arise in situations in
which the sex-role stereotypes are discrepant with the work
roles of the particular genders. These are places in which gender
is made more pronounced and is recognized over the work role.
•
Women are, therefore, more likely to experience sexual
harassment in nontraditional work situations involving works
other than nurturing or being a sex object.
•
Based on these two theories, the variables of interests: feminist
ideology and gender role beliefs towards sexual harassment will
be the determinants on the types of coping strategies women
would adopt if they are sexually harassed
SexualH
27
•
•
•
•
`It has been reported that younger individuals are more likely to make a
formal complaint when sexually harassed than are older ones (Terpstra
& Cook, 1985) which is complimentary to the finding of Barak, Fisher,
and Houston (1992) that older, more experienced women are more likely
to perceive an environment as sexually hostile and therefore conclude
that their claim will not be taken seriously or that they would experience
some other negative outcome.
In a study of whistle-blowers' perceptions of organizational retaliation,
Parmerlee, Near and Jensen (1982) also found that younger individuals
were more likely than older ones to report instances of wrongdoing.
Given the evidence from these studies, younger individuals appear to
have more positive expectations concerning the outcome of reporting
incidents of sexual harassment than do older individuals. Brooks and
Perot (1991) found age and marital status have direct influence on
perceived offensiveness of the incident and that perceived
offensiveness have a direct influence on reporting the incident.
However, Gruber and Bjorn (1986); Ragins and Scandura (1995) found
that age, marital status, education do not consistently predict
differences in women's assertiveness in handling sexual harassment.
The inconsistent results could be explained by the fact that older
women tend to have more organizational resources such as seniority or
status which is likely to increase their assertiveness; but younger
women are often targeted for more severe and frequent sexual
harassment which in turn prompts them to be more assertive (Gruber &
Bjorn, 1986).
SexualH
28
• `Sharifah (2001) in her study found position and
education level were important factors in adopting
positive coping strategies amongst women who
were sexually harassed. The most popular
strategies used were sharing the information with
trusted person and discussing with top
management. Sharifah (2001) claimed that most of
her respondents were from management level,
therefore they could have higher understanding on
exercising their rights as employees and at the
same time closer to the top management as
compared to the lower level employees. The same
results were also found in Wan Azhari’s (1996)
research which unrevealed that lower level
employee would prefer to keep quiet rather than
complain since they have fear of retaliation from the
harasser.
SexualH
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• `Feminist Ideology
• Gender-Role Beliefs
• Demographic Factors
COPING STRATEGIES:
• Emotion-focused coping strategies
• Problem-focused coping strategies
SexualH
30
• `H1:
Women who holds conservative
gender-role attitudes would adopt emotionfocused coping strategies when encounter
with sexual harassment.
• H2:
Women with feminist ideology,
would adopt problem-focused coping
strategies against sexual harassment.
• H3:
There is a relationship between
demographic factors namely age, race,
marital status, education level, position and
duration in the company with the coping
strategies against sexual harassment.
SexualH
31
• `Section 1 focused on the demographic data of the
respondents. The six variables are age, race, marital
status, education level, position in the company and
duration of service in the company.
• Section 2 was made up of three statements: 1)
Women are considered as sex objects at working
place;
2)Women behave in a seductive manner at work will
be rewarded more for that behavior than for
competence
at work; and 3) Sexual harassment at work reflects a
power relationship, male over female to
measure respondent’s feminist ideology (Brooks &
Perot, 1991).
• Section 3 has four statements
measuring respondent’s gender-role beliefs
(Hotelling, 1991; Brooks & Perot, 1991; & Gutek,
1985).
SexualH
32
• `These are 1) Wage-earning women should limit their
employment to specific female jobs such as teachers,
nurses and secretaries; 2) In a work group, it is
woman’s responsibility to make coffee or take notes
at the meeting; 3) It is a woman’s responsibility to
prevent sexual harassment, 4) Women need to be
blamed and it is their fault if sexual harassment
occurs. Both independent variables were measured
based on 5 point Likert Scale: 1 being Strongly
Disagree to 5 being Strongly Agree.
• Section 4 contains six items to measure the types of
coping strategies that would be adopted
• (Folkman & Lazarus, 1985 and Hippensteele, 1996)
were measured based on 5 point Likert Scale:
• 1 being Strongly Disagree to 5 being Strongly Agree.
Items 1, 2, and 6 measure the emotion-focused coping
• strategy, while the remaining items measure the
problem-solving coping strategy.
SexualH
33
`Coping Strategy
• I’ll keep quiet and blame myself
• I’ll be patient and ignore the problem
• I’ll make a complaint through Grievance
Procedure
• I’ll make a police complaint
• I’ll bring this matter to the court
• I’ll resign without taking any action
SexualH
34
200 responses were returned and usable, a response rate 50 %.
The majority of them (57.5%) are within the age of 21 to 30 years
old). In terms of racial distribution,
Malays were the majority (47.5%), followed by Chinese (30%),
Indians (20%) and other races (2.5%).
In terms of highest level of education, 5.0 percent respondents are
SRP / PMR / LCE holders. The majority of respondents (30.5%)
are SPM / MCE holders. Among the respondents, only 14
respondents’ highest levels of education are STPM (7.0%).
Diploma holders constitute 18.0 percent. Bachelor degree and
Master degree holders constitute 29.5 percent and 10.0 percent
respectively.
In term of position in company, most of the respondents were from
supervisory category. They constitute 45.5 percent from 200
respondents. This is followed by non-supervisory category with
30.0 percent. 15 percent were production workers and 9.5
percent were from managerial category.
In terms of duration of service in the present organization, 20.5
percent of the respondents had less than 1 year of service, while
18.0 percent had 1 to 2 years of service in the present company.
33 respondents representing 16.5 percent had 2 to 3 years of
service; this is followed by 9.5 percent of respondents with 3 to 4
years of service. 10.5 percent of the respondents had 4 to 5
years of service, while majority
of 25.0 percent had more than 5 35
SexualH
years of service in present company.
Results
. feminist ideology and gender-role beliefs have
significant impact on emotion-focused coping
strategy.
. feminist ideology and gender-role beliefs have
no significant impact on problem-solving
coping strategy.
• age, marital status and duration of service are
almost significant in influencing emotionfocused strategy that women would adopt if
they are sexually harassed
• age, race and position in the company are
almost significant in influencing problemsolving coping strategy adopted by women if
they are sexually harassed
SexualH
36
Discussion and Conclusions
• Feminist attitude was found to be a significant
predictor of emotion-focused coping strategy. This
study found that female employees who hold profeminist ideology will choose emotion-focused coping
strategy if they encounter with sexual harassment.
However, this finding found to be inconsistent with
past researches that have been done internationally.
International researchers such as Brooks and Perot
(1991); Schneider (1982); and Jensen and Gutek
(1982) found that women who have high feminist
attitude would adopt problem-solving coping
strategies if they encounter with sexual harassment.
One of the possible reasons for this inconsistency
could be the cultural difference among women in our
country and women in the country the research done.
Due to the differences in the environment and cultural
beliefs, women in Malaysia prefer to be silent and
ignore the sexual harassment problem although they
have a high feminist element in them.
SexualH
37
• Gender-role beliefs is found to have significant impact on
emotion-focused coping strategy. In other words, female
employees in this study who hold high gender-role belief
will use emotion-focused coping strategy if they are
sexually harassed. This finding is supported by
researches conducted by Brooks and Perot (1991);
Fitzgerald (1988) and Gutek (1985).
• They found that women who endorse gender-role beliefs
generally respond less assertively to sexual harassment
or choose emotion-focused coping strategy. In can be
said that women in our society still hold the traditional
cultural role for women as wife and mother and they
believe that wage-earning women should limit their
employment opportunities to specific female jobs.
• Women with this kind of gender-based expectations in
their work environment will blame themselves if sexual
harassment occur and choose to keep quiet and ignore
the problem.
SexualH
38
• Overall, the findings of this study show that women will
choose emotion-focused or the passive type of coping
strategies if they encounter sexual harassment.
• The results of this study seem to suggest that women in
this country are not playing an active role in preventing
and eradicating sexual harassment. Therefore, they need
to be encouraged to take problem-solving or the active
type of strategies if they are sexually harassed.
• One of the ways is by promoting the “Code of Practice
and Eradication of Sexual Harassment” in workplace. This
task can be taken by Human Resources Ministry and the
Women and Family Development Ministry.
• It is hoped that the findings of the study will help the
ministries to decide whether there is a need to have a
specific law on sexual harassment to educate, and
address issues/consequences arising out of
SexualH
39
• . Office
Romance and Power
• Co-workers believe that
employees in relationships abuse
their power to favour each other.
• Higher risk of sexual harassment
when relationship breaks off.
SexualH
40
• `
SexualH
41