What are you doing about sexual harassment at work?

Meiling Wong

Mention ‘sexual harassment’ to people and most will think of sleazy male bosses making passes at female employees and implying that their careers will suffer if they do not sleep with them.

Yes, that is sexual harassment. And so is the risqué joke told loudly in the presence of someone who is clearly made uncomfortable by this. And obscene or suggestive gestures, lewd remarks, ogling, and catcalls.

Sexual harassment can occur anywhere – in the home, office, or on the street. Often it is men who sexually harass women, but it can happen the other way around. Sexual harassment is essentially an affront to a person’s dignity, a show of disrespect.

AWARE conducted a Workplace Sexual Harassment study in 2008 and discovered that 54% of the respondents had experienced it in some form. The incidents took place not just at the workplace but also at work-related activities such as business lunches, client entertainment or team-building events.

Workplace sexual harassment constitutes any persistent, repeated and unwanted conduct of a sexual nature or demeanour that affects the dignity of men and women at work.  This includes unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal behaviours that directly or indirectly insinuate sex.

Sexual harassment at the workplace is a bullying tactic and an abuse of authority.  The perpetrator may not be a colleague at work; it could be a client, supplier, or any other person one comes into contact with in the course of work.

Two of the most common types of workplace sexual harassment are ‘quid pro quo’ and ‘hostile sexual environment’.  The former refers to sexual blackmail, where the abuser demands sexual favours and forces the recipient to choose between acceding to lewd requests or risk losing job benefits such as a salary increase, a promotion or even the job itself.

The hostile sexual environment is created by employees and employers who do not take any measures to prohibit or curb the conduct of the sexual harasser. Their inaction creates, for those at the receiving end of this conduct, an intimidating, unsafe and unproductive working environment.

NOTE: AWARE is conducting workshops, called Self-defence against Corporate Bullies, to discuss workplace sexual harassment and how you can deal with it. Contact publiceducation@aware.org.sg for more information.