Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: Causes and Prevention

Introduction

During the last several decades, women have entered the workforce by the millions. The entrance of females into what used to be male-dominated settings has brought fresh ideas, new perspectives, and other positive attributes to every field. Alongside these gains, the problem of sexual harassment has moved into the spotlight as more cases are heard. Sexual harassment has been a problem since the beginning of working for wages. Historically, there have been cases of female workers being harassed by male superiors or fellow employees, and there have also been occasional charges about male employees being harassed as well.

Sexual harassment has existed as long as the paid workforce has, but it was not until the mid-1960s that it became recognized from a legal standpoint and steps began to be taken to curb perpetrators' ability to harass others. Whether the increase in reported cases is due to more incidents actually occurring, or to the fact that women are now encouraged to speak out, is up for debate. The fact remains, however, that sexual harassment in the workplace is a factor that must be dealt with in today's world.

Defining Sexual Harassment

While many experts and research reports have worked to define the term sexual harassment, no single universal definition has ever emerged. This is because there are many situations in which it can occur and many venues in which it can play out and still qualify as harassment. A comprehensive description of what constitutes sexual harassment includes the following elements.

Sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. It occurs when sexual favors are demanded as a term or condition of employment — a situation referred to as quid pro quo, or "something for something" harassment. For example, a supervisor demands that a subordinate employee sleep with him or she will be fired.

It also occurs when sexual demands, once made, are refused and the employee faces an adverse consequence for that refusal. For example, an employee rejects the sexual advance of her boss and is subsequently demoted and later fired for her refusal.

Additionally, harassment occurs when acts of verbal abuse, physical touching, sexual demands, or other conduct of a sexual nature are so pervasive and persistent that they have "the effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an offensive and intimidating working environment" for an employee. For example, male employees tease and insult women in the workplace with obscene jokes, sexual innuendoes, or displays of pornography. The female employees are embarrassed and offended by this behavior, which is carried out by co-workers while supervisors do little to stop it, or by supervisors themselves while top management does nothing. This is sometimes referred to as "hostile environment" harassment.

The relationship of the harasser to the harassed employee may be supervisor to subordinate, co-worker to co-worker, subordinate to supervisor, or non-employee (such as a business visitor or customer) to an employee on the job. In all of these situations, the employer has the ability to stop the sexual harassment.

According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.

Sexual harassment can occur under a variety of circumstances, including but not limited to the following:

The victim as well as the harasser may be a woman or a man; the victim does not have to be of the opposite sex. The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, an agent of the employer, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or a non-employee. The victim does not have to be the person directly harassed — anyone affected by the offensive conduct may qualify as a victim. Unlawful sexual harassment may occur without economic injury to or discharge of the victim, but the harasser's conduct must be unwelcome.

Investigation and Legal Consequences

When allegations of sexual harassment are made, they are investigated. The EEOC investigation uses several measures to determine whether allegations are valid. The entire record is placed under scrutiny, including the circumstances surrounding the charges and the context from which they stem. Each case is examined individually. Statements are taken from the alleged victim as well as from the accused, and additional statements may be gathered from others who have relevant knowledge of the acts or circumstances involved. When the investigation is complete, a report of findings is filed. This is not always the end of the matter, as many cases proceed to court when the person alleging harassment files a lawsuit against the individual or the company involved. In recent decades, several high-profile cases have been settled in court, and victims have received multi-million-dollar awards against the companies they sued.

As sexual harassment cases increased, victims for the first time in history had legal recourse, and the large settlements being handed down by courts threatened the financial stability of defendant companies. Insurance companies soon began studying the phenomenon in relation to allegations and outcomes, and they began assembling packages to protect companies from sexual harassment settlements. Clients of the Hartford Financial Services Group showed an interest in such coverage. The Hartford had sold approximately 1,000 policies since 1996, when it began offering what insurers call employment practices liability insurance. The average company purchasing the policy had about 40 workers and paid an annual premium of $3,000, according to Toby Levy, the Hartford's program manager.

The demand for this insurance grew across the nation as settlements increased and litigation numbers rose. Growth in reported cases between 1991 and 1997 was dramatic — from nearly 7,000 cases to over 15,000 cases, according to federal reports from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

While sexual harassment is against the law, it is not always easy to prove. The National Organization for Women picketed the EEOC, complaining that the commission was undermining women's rights by dismissing the majority of allegations brought before it. The EEOC received 3,329 charges in one year but filed only 66 lawsuits on behalf of alleged victims. Evan Kemp, who succeeded Clarence Thomas as EEOC chief, denounced the protest as "election-year theater," insisting that his investigators took harassment complaints seriously but found legal merit in only one quarter of them.

Conclusion

Sexual harassment in the workplace has been a problem since the beginning of paid wages. There was a time when it was accepted as part of the package for females working, but in the mid-twentieth century laws were passed to address the issue. Today, insurance companies offer coverage for harassment-related settlements, and companies are holding seminars in an effort to prevent its occurrence. Courts have provided avenues to redress the harm it causes, and there have been many high-profile cases and large settlements that have attracted significant media attention.

The future holds promise for the collaboration of women and men in the workplace, blending the perspectives and strengths of both to produce results. Sexual harassment only serves to impede that progress. Its existence must be prevented wherever possible, and addressed severely and swiftly when it occurs.