Sexual Harassment in the workplace Research Paper

Sexual Harassment in the workplace - Research Paper Example The key terminologies essential when tackling such a topic include; Sexism-This can be described as an attitude based perception about a person of different sex. For instance, a man thinking that a woman is weak and emotional or a woman thinking that a man is a chauvinist. Sex discrimination-This is manifested in the scenario where an employee tend to be treated differently at the work place because of their sex. Quid Pro Quo-This when decision on employing somebody are based on whether they agree to accept fulfilling sexual demands or not. Sexual harassment in the workstation can have severe influences for both the workers who have experienced it secondhand and the harassed person. The impact of sexual harassment to an employee can be numerous and disastrous. Areas, which have drawn interest of researches in the recent past, are whether sexual harassment is on the rise at work places or other new ways of harassment have emerged. This is based on the fact that, the surges in technolo gy use and harassment from same sex persons have been reported in the recent past. It is of equal importance to note that sexual harassment is not limited to a singular profession but the vice cuts across all career stations (Boland 34-35). Recent statistics by EEOP (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) divulge more information about the complaints. It has been noted that most of the sexual harassment occurrences largely go unreported. However, according to EEOC, one fact observation that was evident is the increase of cases reported in the last decade. This brings in a paradox since more stringent regulations have been put in place to inhibit occurrences of sexual harassment at work. In the last decade, over 20,000 accounts have been filed. Under the cases filed, majority of cases reported were from the female sex (Gai, 2009). In the year 2008, Louis Harris and Associates conducted a telephone poll on 782 workers of the United States. It came up with the statistics that 31 perc ent among female workers admitted to having reported sexual harassment at work. Only 7 percent of their male counterparts reported the same. A significant percentage of 62 percent of those targeted did not take any action. Out of the respondents, 100 percent female reported that the person harassing them was a man while 59 percent of men reported that their harasser was a woman. Subsequently, 41 percent of the male reported that their harasser was a fellow man. Additional statistics records that 43 percent of women who reported experienced harassment from the supervisor, 27 percent from senior employees, 19 percent workers of same level while 8 percent had faced harassment from junior employees (Boland 53). Combating sex harassment at work is a big challenge. This is necessitated by the fact that establishing its causes can be complex. These causes can be social, psychological or political. Owing to the fact that some work relationships such as acting in most cases turn out to be in timate and intense, establishing sexual harassment in such scenarios can be very complex. The other aspect is that in most instances, employees are required to depend on one another in order to maximize productivity. How this should go has no clear guidelines. Making the situation trickier is that some positions at work such as that of the supervisor involves working closely with your team for results to be achieved. However, being accustomed to these close working relations may create