• Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is, simply, harassment that is sexual in nature and generally
includes unwanted sexual advances, conduct or behavior.
Sexual harassment in the workplace is a form of unlawful discrimination and is taken seriously
by the courts.
Other types of harassment might take some time and increasing severity to create a hostile work
environment for the victim, whereas sexual harassment typically brings about discomfort and
negatively impacts the victims’ life immediately.
• Examples Of Sexual Harassment:
• Sharing sexual photos (pornography)
• Posting sexual posters
• Sexual comments, jokes, questions
• Inappropriate sexual touching
• Inappropriate sexual gestures
• Invading personal space in a sexual way 
• How Big Is The Sexual Harassment Problem?
For many years, there have been whispers that sexual harassment runs rampant in
the restaurant industry. More recently, there’s been a steady flow of sexual harassment
stories coming from Hollywood spawning a #MeToo campaign that highlights the
prevalence of this behavior. Even at the lowest number, 25 per cent, this equates to One
In Four women experiencing workplace sexual harassment.
• Verbal Harassment
 
 
Verbal harassment can be the result of personality conflicts in the workplace that have
escalated beyond the casual eye roll or something more serious.
Unlike discriminatory types of harassment (such as sexual), verbal abuse is often not
illegal. Instead, verbal harassment can be someone who’s consistently mean or unpleasant.
For this reason, a lot of verbal harassment can be particularly damaging since it goes
unnoticed and unresolved.
• Examples of Verbal Harassment
Obvious verbal harassment behaviors include things like threatening, yelling,
insulting or cursing at a victim in public or in private.
If this is aimed at someone in a protected class, it is unlawful.
CAUSES OF HARASSMENT:
The causes of sexual harassment vary from person to person and from situation to
situation. Many of the causes are interrelated, and are linked to the culture and values in society
and in companies, and to the roles, relative power and status of the men and women concerned.
Women are much more likely to be victims of sexual harassment precisely because they
more often than men lack power, are in more vulnerable and insecure positions, low self-
confidence, or have been socialized to suffer in silence. In order to understand why women
endure the vast majority of sexual harassment, it is important to look at some of the underlying
causes of this phenomenon.
• Socialization
The way in which men and women were brought up to see themselves and others
strongly influences their behavior. Men who were brought up with beliefs like men are
made to rule over women carry these social values into the workplace, and treat their
female colleagues accordingly. Such men often even think that women take their
harassment as a compliment.
• Power Games
Social and political changes in recent years have changed power relationships.
Some men feel threatened by the career advancement of women and people of color, or
are uncomfortable with women's newfound independence and assertiveness at home and /
or at work. Other men who have recently gained positions of power may also try to prove
themselves by harassing women subordinates. Some men even regard it as a "fringe
benefit" to which their position, their power and their sex entitle them.
• Moral Values
In times of moral laxity, when extramarital affairs are broadly accepted, when
some people equate monogamy with monotony, it is relatively easy for people to indulge
in office flirtations, whether one-sided or mutual. The person who tries, and doesn't
accept rejection or sees the unwilling colleague as a challenge, easily becomes a harasser,
or may victimize the reluctant colleagues
• Divorce Reasons
The prevalence of marital stress and divorce in our society means that some men
and women come to work in a state of emotional distress that could make them
vulnerable to sexual harassment.
• Discrimination As A Form Of Workplace Control
Women tend to be in low-ranking positions, dependent upon the approval and
goodwill of male (superiors) for hiring, retention and advancement. Being at the mercy of
male superiors adds direct economic clout to male sexual demands; it also deprives
women of material security and independence which could help make resistance to
unreasonable job pressures practical.
Sexual harassment of women can occur largely because women occupy inferior
job positions and job roles; at the same time, sexual harassment works to keep women in
such positions.