Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: What to Know & How to Respond - Essay Sample

Introduction

Despite the increased campaign in our modern world to eliminate inequality by empowering every individual in all sectors equally, sexual harassment is still prevalent in our workplaces. As a professional who has just joined my workplace soon, it is imperative that I get to understand more on workplace sexual harassment as well as perceive ways on how I will deal with the act once I witness it in my work premises. In this article, I will cast a broad net on what sexual harassment in an organizational context is and discuss the professional ways on what is best to do when an individual witnesses it in their professional career setting.

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Details about Workplace Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment can be defined as "any form of unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature which has the purpose or effect of violating a person's dignity and creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for the person … such unwanted conduct may consist of acts, requests, spoken words, gestures or the production, display or circulation of written words, pictures, or other material" (O'Reilly and Garrett 106-107). Modern surveys show a prevalent feature that outlines women as the group most affected by all forms of sexual harassment like verbal sexual harassment, physically aggressive sexual harassment, online sexual harassment, and sexual assault (Sapiro 1053). Therefore, in most cases, the research demonstrates sexual harassment as an act where male superiors tend to harass their female subordinates with a desire to flex their power, dominance, and control.

Sexual harassment occurs when an individual abuses their power by discriminating others based on gender or sexuality. It includes instances where the victim is directly or indirectly demanded to be sexually compliant to enjoy certain employment benefits. It also entails sexually suggestive verbal and non-verbal behaviors that make a victim uncomfortable. Workplace sexual harassment can be grouped into two types, namely, quid pro quo and hostile working environment (National Partnership for Women &Families; Sapiro 1055). Quid pro quo, which means 'this for that' is a form of sexual harassment where superiors directly or indirectly demand sexual compliance with a promise to offer employment benefits like positive job reviews, promotions, job security, times-off, or favorable working shifts(National Partnership for Women &Families; Sapiro 1055). On the other hand, a hostile working environment sexual harassment entails verbal and non-verbal sexual harassment behaviors that are usually recurring, intentional, and severe and often affect the victim's ability to execute their jobs perfectly (National Partnership for Women &Families; Sapiro 1055). Both of these unlawful acts create an unconducive working environment for the victims, which usually detrimentally affect them emotionally, mentally, and physically. It, therefore, calls for actions to be taken whenever one witnesses sexual harassment in their work premises to ensure that everyone irrespective of their gender, rank, and sexuality practices their profession at an optimum level free of any hostility or distractions.

How Appropriately to React When I Witness Workplace Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is one of the challenges in our professional settings, and it can take any form ranging from gender-perpetuated gestures, comments, physical action, or insults. It is, therefore, a clear indication of a lack of gender equity and gender equality in workplaces. An employee needs to play a supporting role to a co-worker who is targeted by any form of sexual harassment. Playing a supporting role to sexual harassment victims is a huge step towards promoting gender equality in organizational settings as well as ensuring that the working environment is conducive for everyone. To deal with this demeaning act, several professional, ethical steps of civility, respect, and professionalism can be undertaken to ensure workplace equality prevails.

Taking a look at the scenario at hand, the male supervisor makes offensive sexual jokes towards the female employee. The manager acts so in a pretense of humor intending to enhance his male status and without the knowledge that his behaviors can humiliate or embarrass the female employee. His conduct can be classified into a hostile working environment sexual harassment type. And as a witness to the harassment, I believe the manager has violated the federal law enshrined in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (National Partnership for Women &Families). And since it is unlawful workplace conduct, I understand that I have the right to report the incident. But before everything else, I ought to decide on the interventions that are best and appropriate to take to support the victim and deal with this unlawful act in our work without exposing myself and the victim of the harassment to unwanted and unsafe retaliatory actions that may be directed to us by our supervisor.

As the situation is, I believe the best and appropriate way to react to this demeaning act is acting as ethically professional as possible and reporting the issue. The steps I believe I will take are outlined below. First and foremost, I will have to inform her that I intend to report the case to the relevant authorities but still try to acknowledge the situation she victim is within and empathize with her by ensuring that I go ahead once she is comfortable in taking the action that I am proposing. Once I have permission to repost the incidences of the case to the relevant authority from my co-worker, I will proceed to examine the available lawful protections we are both offered by our organizational policies and federal laws.

Once I am conversant and sure how both me, as a witness and the victim are protected by the law, I will proceed to my next strategies, which are as outlined below:

• I will study my organization's sexual harassment reporting policy well and ensure that every step I undertake in the process is following the laid-down guidelines to the letter,
• I will also file a charge of the harassment case to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as required by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and
• Also, ensure that I actively participate and assist in the investigation of the harassment by testifying the accounts of the incidences if needed (National Partnership for Women &Families).

As a bystander in the scenario, a responsible employee, and who is empowered by the law to report such unlawful workplace incidences, I would ensure that the incidence is reported accordingly. In doing so, I believe I would help in exposing the gender prejudices and discrimination incidences present in our workplaces and help in ensuring that the fight against these punitive acts is well underway and towards a successful ending. It would also help in conveying the message to all female employees that they should condemn the act instead of believing it as a part of our workspaces.

Works Cited

National Partnership for Women &Families. "Know Your Rights: Witnessing Sexual Harassment at Work." NPWF, Mar. 2019, www.nationalpartnership.org/our-work/resources/economic-justice/sexual-harassment/know-your-rights-witnessing-sexual-harassment-work.pdf. Accessed 21 May 2020.

O'Reilly, Aisling, and Paul M. Garrett. "'Playing the Game?': The sexual harassment of female social workers across professional workspaces." International Social Work, vol. 62, no. 1, 2017, pp. 105-118.

Sapiro, Virginia. "Sexual Harassment: Performances of Gender, Sexuality, and Power." Perspectives on Politics, vol. 16, no. 4, Dec. 2018, pp. 1053-1066.