Sexual Harassment: The Changing Dynamics

Sexual Harassment: The Changing Dynamics

Josh Fabi

D’Youville College

“Everyone has the right to work in an environment free from sexual harassment and to be evaluated solely on work performance”. (Davidhizar, 1998)

Sexual Harassment in the workplace is current and evolving issue for both employers and employees. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Sexual harassment is unwelcome verbal, visual, or physical conduct of sexual nature that affects working conditions. (Mathis, 35)

The 1964 Civil Rights act created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, also known as the EEOC. One of the primary jobs of the EEOC is to uphold the rules and regulations that were laid out by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. According to the EEOC’s webpage, “Title VII covers private, most public employers, labor organizations, employment agencies, and joint employer-union apprenticeship programs with 15 or more employees.” The legal sexual harassment definition, found on the EEOC’s webpage is a form of sexual discrimination that is “ unwelcome verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature that is severe or pervasive and effects working conditions or creates a hostile work environment.” Sexual Harassment can also consist of nonsexual conduct, which occurs when a person is harassed because they are one sex rather than the other. A Few examples of nonsexual conduct are verbal abuse of sexual nature, and keep asking and employee to go out and get drinks, dinner, or socialize.

Some progress has been made over the years; there are still gender gaps. Historically, women in western cultures have been viewed as subservient to men. (Davidhizar, 1998) This view is deeply routed in the American culture and has contributed to inequality for women in certain situations.

When someone hears the term “Sexual Harassment,” they usually picture a woman being victimized by her male boss. Sexual harassment affects victims in many different ways. “It can happen to both men and women. Nearly 25% of women report having been harassed at work during their careers. However, over 10% of claims were filed by men” (Mathis, 35). According to the article called Impact of work Experiences on Attitudes towards Sexual Harassment by Konrad and Gutekt state that “gender difference in attitude implies that types of sexual behaviors that my be evaluated negatively by a woman maybe evaluated positively by a man.”  “Sexual harassment is a demonstration of deeply held beliefs, attitudes, feelings, and cultural norms. It shows the abuse of power, a gender-power discrepancy and sometimes power-related vengeance” (Brandendburg 1997).  According to Davidhizar, “between 1989 and 1993, executives’ concerns about sexual harassment increased 200%.”