Sexual Harassment at Workplace
Introduction
In the working environment, there are some incidents, in which women are being harassed by their male colleagues. The issue of sexual harassment has been prevalent, specifically in working environment in which male employees dominates than women (McKinnon, 1979). According to some researchers, sexual harassment can be defined as the incident between individuals of unequal status, like power or gender, and that the person who has lesser power is the one exploited. (Crenshaw, 1992) Others have supported such definition and notes that the power exploitation is a socio-cultural predetermined behaviour. Some have cited sexual harassment as an act which often involves the abuse of power and that it is a common approach used by other to devalue the role of women in the work environment. According to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EOCC) (2002), sexual harassment has been defined by two major aspects.
One is quid pro quo harassment in which sexual conduct is made a condition of employment and the negative to subject oneself to such leads to adverse work situations. On the other hand, the second one is considered as the hostile work environment, which is considered as the sexual conduct which unreasonably hinders work performance or one which creates offensive, a hostile, or intimidating work environment, that is sufficiently severe to alter conditions of employment.
Sexual Harassment At Workplace
Sexual harassment has been recognised by court as legal grounds of action which is essentially based on sexual discrimination in the society. In time, the policies about the issue had significantly evolved, placing more legal accountabilities on the employers’ part in terms of sexual harassment acts. Because of this enhancement the claims filed for sexual harassment has increased in number. In the past years, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), who evaluates and resolves claims of sexual harassment and identifies if the victim has the right to sue, has been able to handle and manage thousand various cases of sexual harassment.
Normally, the claims are placed against the conduct of non-supervisors which include, clients or contractors. Nonetheless, the majority of the cases where characterised by complaints against employees in the top management or the complainant’s immediate supervisor. In addition, most of these alleged claims and complaints were eventually found to reliable and valid. As the top management ave the authorities to direct the subordinates in manners that could affect them, the increasing number of filed claims on supervisors appear to highlight the notion that sexual harassment is not solely about sex or sexual urge, but on the abuse of power as well.
The case of filing a complaint for sexual harassment goes under the violation ofi the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In this policy, discrimination that is based on sex is prohibited. Hence, this federal provision considers the discrimination and prejudice of an individual based on his compensation, terms, privileges of employment or conditions for the reason of the person’s sex as an illegal employment act of the employer. Accordingly, the additional work of doing irrelevant duties as well as the hilarity that supervisors and colleagues find in the situation may also affect an employee in terms of emotional and working behaviour.
It can be said that sexual harassment is indeed a common incident in the workplace. While there are legal provisions which response o sexual harassment cases, several difficulties outside the law can still hamper or impede the achievement of a successful sexual harassment claim (McKinnon, 1992). Traditional perceptions as well as and attitudes, stereotyped gender and racial roles, successful claim requirements as well as gender classification and emotions are among the probable factors that can hinder an individual to consider lawsuit in filing sexual harassment complaints. In this regard, essential concepts of sexual harassment should be taken into consideration to be able to understand a specific case of sexual harassment as well as to provide appropriate judgments.
It can be said that the context of sexual harassment cases are indeed complex. Although a law is already accessible and existing to guide these cases, several aspects of society and culture seem to overshadow h legal provisions. While laws and policies are easily created and passed, the strongly established norms as well as the conventional perceptions will always be existent as they are harder to disregard. For as long as inevitable problems are present, filing a lawsuit for sexual harassment lawsuits will always be as complicated and complex.
Reference
Crenshaw, Kimberle, Race, Gender, and Sexual Harrasment, 65 S. Cal. L. Rev. 1467, 1474 (1992).
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2002). Facts About Sexual Harassment, Online available at http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-sex.html. retrieve February 16, 2010.
McKinnon, Catharine, “Women’s Work,” in Sexual Harassment of Working Women: A Case of Sex Discrimination, pp. 9-23, (1979).
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