A new awareness campaign is being launched today at ENCHI COLLEGE OF EDUCATION targeting sexual harassment and sexual violence.
Sexual harassment is not about sex. It’s about power. It’s about the power a boss can exercise over a worker, the power a teacher can exercise over a student, and power—less concretely defined—that male co-workers can exert over their female peers. It’s a kind of power play, manifested as sex discrimination.
Sexual harassment is one of the leading forms of discrimination that women and femme-identifying workers face. Surveys show that 58% of women report having experienced gender harassment at work. Sexual harassment and discrimination are against UE’s values, and they are illegal under most union contracts. It is also illegal under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, a law that UE fought to get passed. In 1980, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued guidelines defining sexual harassment. It is defined as:
(1) unwelcome sexual advances; or (2) requests for sexual favors; or (3) any other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual harassment can occur through looks, touches, jokes, innuendoes, gestures, or direct propositions.
Such conduct constitutes sexual harassment when (a) submission is made a term or condition of employment; or (b) submission is used as a basis for employment decisions; or most broadly (c) the conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance, or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.
Under the law, men as well as women can be victims of sexual harassment, but in reality it is women who are affected far more frequently. The victim and harasser can be the same sex. The harasser can also be a client, customer or other non-employee.
Sexual harassment is also making offensive comments about a person's sex; for example, making degrading comments about women in general.
So, in short, sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual advance or a hostile work atmosphere based upon sex. The key to all this is, if a woman says "no" or "stop it," then actions that occur after that probably are sexual harassment. The “no” does not have to verbal either. If a boss keeps demanding that a woman worker go out with him, and she walks away from him each time he does it, then that should be taken for “no." For him to keep bothering her is sexual harassment.
Sexual harassment is not about sex. It’s about power. It’s about the power a boss can exercise over a worker, the power a teacher can exercise over a student, and power—less concretely defined—that male co-workers can exert over their female peers. It’s a kind of power play, manifested as sex discrimination.
Sexual harassment is one of the leading forms of discrimination that women and femme-identifying workers face. Surveys show that 58% of women report having experienced gender harassment at work. Sexual harassment and discrimination are against UE’s values, and they are illegal under most union contracts. It is also illegal under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, a law that UE fought to get passed. In 1980, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued guidelines defining sexual harassment. It is defined as:
(1) unwelcome sexual advances; or (2) requests for sexual favors; or (3) any other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual harassment can occur through looks, touches, jokes, innuendoes, gestures, or direct propositions.
Such conduct constitutes sexual harassment when (a) submission is made a term or condition of employment; or (b) submission is used as a basis for employment decisions; or most broadly (c) the conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance, or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.
Under the law, men as well as women can be victims of sexual harassment, but in reality it is women who are affected far more frequently. The victim and harasser can be the same sex. The harasser can also be a client, customer or other non-employee.
Sexual harassment is also making offensive comments about a person's sex; for example, making degrading comments about women in general.
So, in short, sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual advance or a hostile work atmosphere based upon sex. The key to all this is, if a woman says "no" or "stop it," then actions that occur after that probably are sexual harassment. The “no” does not have to verbal either. If a boss keeps demanding that a woman worker go out with him, and she walks away from him each time he does it, then that should be taken for “no." For him to keep bothering her is sexual harassment.






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