A Feminist Definition Of Sexual Harassment

Harassment, specifically sexual harassment, is one of those challenges faced by businesses and employers as of a result of workplace diversification. Inappropriate conversations, unwanted advances and uncomfortable physical contact are some of the ways sexual harassment can occur. According to Hellriegel and Slocum, “Sexual harassment refers to unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.” (p.52). To be clear, sexual harassment can, and has, affected both women and men over the years however up to half of all working women have reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment in the career (Vijayasiri, 2008, p.1). It wasn’t until 1986 though that the Supreme Court recognized sexual harassment as a violation of Title VII in the case of Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (O’Brien, 1994, p. 1). Before the high court’s ruling, however, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had begun to address the issue by drafting hostile work environment guidelines that included sexual harassment (O’Brien, 1994, p. 4). These guidelines would serve later to guide the high court’s decision. There are many more cases like this one we could look at. In 1991, sexual harassment became a household term as Anita Hill testified before congress stating she was sexually

Another solution is to put more serious punishments for culprits into action. This is a tactic used commonly by law enforcement officers, using the philosophy that if the punishment is more valuable than the “reward”, people will hopefully be less likely to attempt sexual harassment crimes. It is also a lot more “fair” if the punishment is more severe. The victim will be affected for their whole life because of the harassment, it only makes sense that the punishment should also be life affecting.

Injustices in this world infect people's lives like diseases. One in particular has not only developed over the years, but cases spring up in the most unthought of places. This injustice commonly known as sexual harassment affects women, children, and occasionally men all across the globe. There are many aspects when it comes to sexual harassment including its background, opposing viewpoints on the popular belief, the popular viewing, sexual harassment in today's society, solutions to the problem, and what the future would be like without this injustice on the world's hands.

Erdreich, B. L., Slavet, B. S., & Amador, A. C.. Sexual harassment in the federal workplace: Trends, progress, continuing challenges. 1995

Harassment has no boundaries when it comes to race, age, or gender. As mentioned previously, there are sometimes underlying problems when it comes to lower-status positions and high-status positions. Power can be dangerous in the hands of the wrong person and can often be said in the workplace where power can lead to sexual harassment. Debbie Dougherty, an assistant professor of communication in the College of Arts and Science at the University of Missouri-Columbia, did an assessment based on opinions and perceptions of 23 participants. The study was focused around the question “why does sexual harassment occur?” and the most common answer that came up was “power.” One thing Debbie noticed was the fact that men and women had different opinions

Providing equality within sexual harassment cases gives rise to the question of the Reasonable Woman Standard, a gendered variant of the Reasonable Person Standard. I will argue in this essay that the reasonable woman standard in theory, is a progressive concept; however, in practice it hinders the unobstructed application of the law and negatively affects women.

Sexual harassment is discrimination that involves any uninvited comments, exploits, or behavior regarding sex, gender, or sexual orientation. If any type of violation is made by a co-worker, a boss, a work acquaintance, or even a non-employee such as a client, vendor, or contractor, this will be considered unlawful sexual harassment within the work environment. Sexual harassment can create a hostile and uneasy work environment. Sexual harassment includes inappropriate verbal advances, unwelcomed physical behavior that creates an aggressive, hostile, intimidating or malicious work environment for employees. Sexual harassment includes sending suggestive e-mails, notes, and

Moreover, in a school environment students are pressed in doing a favor to their teacher against their will in order to manipulate their grades. Female workers are asked to do favors in return to advance with their career. Discriminatory acts are often cause by men in powerful positions, which is also known as sexual harassment. Student’s objectives should go to school to pass their courses. Employee should go to work to perform their job responsibilities. If everything works according to plan, it should be okay. However, this is not the case to some situation, there are more and more people becoming a victim of sexual harassment in the workplace, schools, and churches. It is outrageous to hear that there are people out there used their power to sexually harass individual to take advantages of weakness of another person. The typical victims are usually female employees and female students.

As seen in the case study, a court decision may be one way for any company to legally define what constitutes sexual harassment in the workplace, but there are many ways to define sexual harassment. Everyone has different views and tolerance levels towards sexual harassment. When a case of sexual harassment occurs in a workplace, however, it comes down to how the courts define sexual harassment. The Supreme Court defines sexual harassment to be unlawful in two ways. “The first type involves sexual harassment that results in a tangible employment action;” this is referred to as quid pro quo. For example, if an employee complies with the harasser’s request, then she will get a raise. This unlawful act is usually presented in the workplace by a person who has an upper hand, such as a manager, to ensure that s/he will get what s/he wants. Employees are often victimized by fear that they will not get promoted or that they will get fired. They also dread that if a complaint is filed, it will not be handled correctly. “This instance of sexual harassment always involves another violation of employee rights; [sic] wrongful termination.” This would occur, for instance, when “a supervisor . . . tells a subordinate that . . . she must be sexually cooperative with [him] or . . . she will be fired, and who then indeed does fire the subordinate for not submitting” (“U.S. Supreme Court Defines”). [schwinlaw.com]

In this research paper I would fully discuss what sexual harassment. I will start on the origin of sexual harassment and how it came into law. I will discuss what environment of sexual harassment looks like in the work place. The reader should be able to discover the different types of sexual harassment: Quid pro quo and Indirect. I will show you illustrated trends of sexual harassment in the work place over the years. I will discuss how sexual harassment affect both parties, meaning the employer and the employee. I will back up theses affects by laws that are set in place to protect the employee and hold the employer responsible. I will give an analysis on recent litigation involving sexual harassment in the workplace. In my conclusion I will give a recommendation on how to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace and what management can to protect their employees.

Despite the fact that sexual harassment is a form of discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it still continues to happen even though women are more aware of it since they were first included into the law enforcement. According to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2002) sexual harassments is defined as “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical

Unlike the majority of men, women are often over sexualized by their male coworkers and end up being treated in ways that are degrading and disrespectful. The sad truth is that if these women were in fact male they would have to put up with next no harassment, proving the unequal treatment of women in their places of work. Sexual harassment in work place first gained national attention in 19191 when President Bush nominated Clarence Thomas to US Supreme court. Thomas’s former assistant testified that he had sexually harassed her by making a series or sexually inappropriate comments, overtures and solicitations while acting as her supervisor. (Issues and Controversies) This is not the only sighted case of sexual harassment in the work place. It is reported that 81 percent of women are verbally harassed and 44 percent have encountered unwanted toughing and sexual advances (__) This form of harassment is degrading to women, putting them in a place that men perceive to be below them and shows the inequality that is present in the life of an everyday working

Every work industry around the world has numerous discriminations afoot, but many studies have been conducted that highlight challenges faced specifically by women in the workplace. Women face many uphill battles to include differences in pay levels compared with male counterparts; the balance of full-time compared to part-time employment; and the occupational echelons at which women are typically employed. The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) reported that “women remain disadvantaged compared to men, as occupational segregation means they are concentrated in lower skilled and lower paid jobs with less access to vocational training and education” (Bimrose, 2004, p. 110). Sexual harassment represents one important instrument for maintaining occupational separation for women in the workplace. Nevertheless, two legislative Acts in the UK that victims can use to confront it are the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) of 1975 and the Employment Rights Act (ERA) of 1996. Under the SDA, sexual harassment is illegal if it can be construed as sex discrimination and distinguishes between direct and indirect discrimination with sexual harassment identified as a form of direct discrimination. On the other hand, the ERA only applies when an individual has a minimum of 1 years’ service with an employer and has been dismissed, resigned or is considering leaving because of harassment (Bimrose, 2004, p. 110). Additionally, two codes of practice have been implemented to help prevent sexual

gender and does not “Involve sex, requests for sexual activity, comments, or anything similar” (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman, 2015, p. 423). The non-sex requirement is the reason that the term gender in sexual harassment is discussed meaning whether if the individual is male or female that is filing a sexual harassment claim. Although, Title VII of the Civil Rights of 1964 mentions that individuals should not be discriminated on the basis of gender, sex, ethnicity, race, religion, etc it does not specify an individual’s sexual orientation.

Social inequality is a pressing issue in society today. It is a problem that is embedded deeply in society and has a harmful and negative impact. It creates an uneven distribution of resources and opportunities in society thereby causing people to be marginalized. There are many categories associated with social inequality. Examples include race, ethnicity, age, gender, power and social class. This paper will examine gender inequality in society. Using an article from the Toronto Star, I will focus on sexual harassment as an issue of gender inequality in the workplace and the impact it has had on the self-esteem as well as opportunities and achievements of women. Gender Inequality can be defined as the unequal treatment and prejudice of a person on the basis of sex and gender roles. Sexual harassment is further defined as any unwelcome sexual advances, request for sexual favours of verbal, gestural or physical nature and with objectionable overtones which cause discomfort, humiliation, fear or anger (I.L.O, 1958). Gender Inequality is mostly affected by women. In the workplace, schools, political positions and even in families, women are seen as the inferior sex. In Canadian history, it was not until the 1900s women were given equal rights to vote and the 1920s before a woman was elected in parliament. (Smith, 2011) This is to show that gender discrimination has been embedded in society for a very long time and although laws have been made to make sure males and females are