In psychological terms sexual harassment as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for
sexual favors and other verbal and physical conduct of a sexual nature or containing
even the slightest of sexual intonations when: (1) submission to such conduct is
made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment;
(2) submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as a basis
for employment decisions affecting such individual; or (3) such conduct has the purpose
or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance and at the
same time creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment.
Implicated in this statement are two distinct forms of sexual harassment. First,
Quid pro quo sexual harassment involves a situation in which submission to sexual
advances or requests is a condition of receiving or keeping a job or job benefits.
This situation occurs when an employer or supervisor uses his power or control to
extract sexual favors from an employee. Hostile environment harassment exists when
the workplace atmosphere is made offensive by sexual harassment, even though the
victim suffers no tangible economic loss.
Sexual harassment behaviors can be placed into three categories: physical (touching,
stroking and assault), verbal (jokes, sexual remarks and propositions) and nonverbal
(gestures and facial expressions). The guidelines concerning sexual harassment may be
broadly interpreted. Is sexual harassment an inherent part of the culture and
therefore acceptable? How bad does the harassment have to be before the environment
is considered hostile? In the real world there are no universal standards. Very
similar cases can result in conflicting reactions and court opinions. For example,
analysts and scholars have found that for certain individuals, merely displaying
obscene, bawdy posters is sufficient to uphold the claim of harassment in , but not
so in others.
A look at its history
While some progress has been made world wide, over the years, by and large, gender gap
is still a rampant global phenomenon. Historically, women in every age and clime have
been considered subservient to men. In both oriental and occidental societies women
were considered less intelligent and less capable, less principled and moral and more
childlike than men. These views are deeply rooted in the Indian culture even today
and have contributed to inequality for women in certain situations. Under the purview
of the Indian social system, poverty is a major factor which provokes men to perpetrate
sexual harassment. Young, partially educated women from the countryside pour into the
major cities and towns and take up any job that comes handy. They remit money back home
for their family members to survive. At this juncture many of such women fall prey to
sexual harassment from their bosses or even very senior colleagues. There comes a point of
time when they find themselves in a dilemma either to surrender to the obnoxious
behaviour or else face poverty en masse.Such indeed is the tragic plight of many of
our nameless and faceless sisters.
Stopping harassment
Informally, the best action the victim can take is to immediately let the harasser
know that the specific behavior is unacceptable. Sometimes this approach is all that
is necessary. The victim needs to be assertive or else the situation is likely to get
out of hand. If this is not effective, supervisors and managers in the office or place
of work need to be informed of this abominable behavior. If harassment is allowed to
continue, it will be more difficult to curtail and can ruin the victim's reputation.
Reporting the behavior after allowing it to go on for some time also makes it more
difficult to stop. One must bear in mind that if the response to sexual harassment is
inconsistent and ambiguous, a judge may rule that the actions were not sexual
harassment but a follow- up of mutual agreement. In addition to verbal reporting,
the victim should document both the incidents of sexual harassment and efforts made to
stop the behavior.
However there are certain precautions which the women might take to prevent sexual
harassment in the first place. Here are a few tips:
Be polite and somewhat formal with your boss and other male colleagues. Maintain a
safe distance from your boss and other men around.
Don't touch the male staff members even while joking, or let them touch you in a jovial
mood. Even a friendly pat might give them crazy ideas. Never venture beyond a formal
handshake, which is officially permissible.
Be sober in your gestures, gait and behaviour.Don't smile too much or laugh too much.
Avoid making eye contacts with people for longer durations. Don't wink even in a
friendly manner. Also do not move /swing parts of your body in a provocative or
tantalising manner.
Do not wear very short and skimpy dresses, which might succeed in provoking men to
fantasize about you. Select clothes that are smart and trendy without exposing major
portions of your figure.
Don't leave your fairly long tresses open and falling all around you. Tie them up
loosely at least, when you stand or sit in the proximity of men during meetings
and discussions. A lot of men find those flowing tresses sensuous and tempting.
Unless you know him very well or trust him, do not sit alone with a man in any
enclosure or closed space. Either have other people around or leave the door ajar .
No doubt these tips might sound a trifle old fashioned but is n't it better to escape
sexual harassment by being old fashioned, than being smart and fast forward and inviting
trouble for yourself?