Sexual Harassment

Abstract

Of all the forms that violence against women can assume, sexual harassment is the most ubiquitous and insidious; all the more so because it is deemed 'normal' behaviour and not an assault on the female entity. It affects women in all settings whether public or private and has psychological, medical, social, political, legal and economic implications. Instances of sexual harassment should not be viewed as isolated incidents; rather they should be construed as a gendered aggression against the rights and dignity of women. The fact that its pernicious effects are visible globally discount any effort to view it with less gravity than it deserves. According to a study by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in 1992, in the 23 countries surveyed, 15-30 per cent of working women had been subjected to sexual harassment, which varied from explicit demands for sexual intercourse to offensive remarks. One out of 12 women surveyed hid to quit her job. Some of them were dismissed. The issue of sexual harassment has been in the forefront of western women's movements for equality and in the efforts to make educational institutions and workplaces safer.