Sexual Harassment, The Law And You
Over the last twenty years, laws prohibiting sexual harassment in the workplace or school have defined the term to include part or all of the following conduct:
*Unwelcome or unwanted verbal,non-verbal, physical or visual conduct based on sex or of asexual nature.
* The acceptance or rejection of which affects an individual’s employment which occurs with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person.
*Unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance.
*An intimidating, hostile, degrading,humiliating or offensive workenvironment, or which constitutes an abuse of authority.
The following are some examples of sexual harassment acts:
*Uninvited physical contact or gestures• Unwelcome requests for sex
*Sexual comments or jokes• Intrusive questions or insinuations of asexual nature about a person’s private life• Displays of offensive or pornographic material such as posters, pinups, cartoons,graffiti or calendars
*Unwanted invitations
*Offensive communications of a sexualnature (letters, phone calls, faxes, emailmessages, etc.)
*Staring or leering at a person or at parts ofhis/her body
*Unwelcome physical contact such as massaging a person without invitation or deliberately brushing up against him/her
*Touching or fiddling with a person’s clothing e.g. lifting up skirts or shirts, or putting hands in a person’s pocket.
The subordination of women to men in society,violates women’s dignity and creates a health and safety hazard in school or at work. Sexual harassment in the workplace or school is a violation of women’s human rights and a prohibited form of violence against women. Sexual harassment causes incalculable economic,psychological and physical harm to its victims and serves to reinforce the subordination of women to men in the workplace or school.
