Sexual harassment at the workplace

Suffice to say that sexual harassment has been in existence since time immemorial. As long as women are employed they are susceptible to sexual harassment.
Women at times succumb to sexual harassment and are unlikely to report it because while they have captured an ever-increasing share of the labour market, improvements in the quality of their jobs have not kept pace, cite the International Training Programme on Gender Issues in Labor. This is usually reflected in the smaller representation of women in management positions particularly in the private sector and their virtual absence from the most senior jobs. Even when women hold managerial jobs, they are often in less strategic lower paying areas of company operations. As such the zeal to rise may force some women to remain quiet even when they are sexually harassed.
In developing countries such as Zimbabwe, sexual harassment seems to be an unrecognised, insidious crime that is perpetuated against women who have no power and are vulnerable to abuse. There is a strong belief that women derive benefits from their supervisor’s seductive behaviour thereby acquiring salary increases, promotions or privileges in exchange for sexual favours or at times just the promise of them.
While sexual harassment is usually recorded in workplaces worldwide, there are now larger numbers of reported cases of sexual harassment in schools and tertiary institutions in Zimbabwe. However research has failed to quantify the degree of sexual violence and harassment in educational settings. There were numerous stories in the print media of teachers, tutors or lecturers who demand sexual favours in exchange for higher grades. What is surprising is that they are the same people who are entrusted by parents, the community and the nation at large to monitor and mould the same pupils into responsible future citizens. There is need for interplay between the home and the school in terms of the upbringing of children.
Research estimates that approximately half of all women will be subjected to sexual harassment at some point during their work or academic life. Just like domestic violence, sexual harassment in Zimbabwe is influenced by cultural, religious and social beliefs that a woman is supposed to be subservient and has lesser power hence cannot make meaningful decisions about her personal life. In Zimbabwe 90 percent of femicide is due to domestic violence. Women are tortured, axed, chopped, raped or assaulted till they die. At times the term quid pro quo is used in relation to sexual harassment whereby sexual compliance is done in exchange for employment or academic opportunity.
Sexual harassment results in the creation of a hostile and intimidating environment by the perpetrator if his or her sexual advances are refused. A survey conducted by researchers of 30 company codes of conduct in Zimbabwe revealed that the majority of the codes recognise sexual harassment as misconduct but definitions were imprecise and the reporting procedures do not recognise it as a unique offence. It is treated as any other offence such as theft. At times the women barely have sight of the code of conduct.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) recognises seven basic rights of women workers as the rights to equal pay, equal treatment, equal training and career opportunities, maternity, protection, combine work and domestic responsibilities and paid work and the right to work in a safe and healthy work environment free from sexual harassment. In India an Act of Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace of 2004 was enacted. The Act explicitly states that no employer, supervisor or co-employer shall in any manner sexually harass a female employee at the workplace. It further states that no teaching staff of an educational institution shall in any manner sexually harass a woman student who attends class or training or visits the educational institution. Such an Act would be quite relevant in Zimbabwe bearing in mind the examples cited above.
Sexual harassment is not only pervasive in Zimbabwe but is prevalent throughout the world as shown in the table below:
Frequency of the sexual harassment of women at the workplace by country
Country % frequency of sexual harassment
Australia 30.5
France 21
Netherlands 58
Britain 74
Spain 24
Czech Republic 17.5
Source – ILO
In Africa, Tanzania conducted a survey of 200 working women, and 90 percent postulated that sexual harassment threatened their jobs and economic survival. In Malawi 40 percent of the 150 working women interviewed reported they had experienced sexual harassment at their workplaces, 68 percent said they had been harassed by their bosses, 21 percent by co-workers and 10 percent by strangers.
It must be pointed out that there are also women who give in to the sexual harassment thereby compromising their work. Research carried out in Zimbabwe indicated that every third woman reported being subjected to sexual harassment at the workplace. The interviewees’ ages ranged from seventeen to sixty-one years. The question is whether women ever report the cases or whether they prefer to suffer in silence. Some women interviewed also highlighted that they feared victimisation from their spouses once they decide to report as this might be associated with loose morals. In a bid to protect their marriages some women just opt to remain silent.
However it emerged from the survey that in half the cases of women reporting cases of harassment to management, the latter did not take any action. Other women postulated that they were not aware of the reporting procedures or were too embarrassed to make any report. Others just felt they had less power to lodge complaints against superiors. From a survey conducted by Khan and Josdowiski of 130 private companies, more than half of the respondents indicated that their harassers were in supervisory positions and the rest were co-workers. According to the survey, the most vulnerable groups of women included the divorced, widowed, the separated, general hands, maids, semi-skilled workers, temporary, contracted, seasonal workers and women whose educational levels were below Form Two. It is also unfair to give more burden to women who have multiple roles already as mothers, caregivers and who have various social responsibilities.
Sexual harassment should be avoided at all costs as it has a negative effect on the professional, psychological and social development of women, men, boys and girls. Indeed sexual harassment is still a hidden crime in Zimbabwe and it is important for the victims, just like in the case of domestic violence, to report such incidences. Apart from that, sexual harassment is a violation of women workers’ rights in terms of discrimination based on their sex which is enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Zimbabwe.

Vaidah Mashangwa is the Provincial Development Officer at the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development, Bulawayo Metropolitan.
Contact : Tel 0772 111 592/ 09-889224
Email: [email protected]