Sexual Harassment In The Workplace And Military - Research Paper Example

Sexual Harassment In The Workplace And Military Introduction One of the most ever-present and dangerous forms of hostility against women is sexual harassment as it affects the women psychologically and socially. Sexual harassment has political as well as legal implications both in private and public. Sexual harassment cases should not be observed as certain isolated events. It should be interpreted as a gendered violent behavior in opposition to the liberties and the self-respect of the women. The objective of the paper is to identify the sexual harassment that the women are facing in the workplace and in the military. The paper reflects how women are offered advancement in their job in the workplace and higher rank in the military against sexual favors. It also reflects the human resource policies to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Discussion and Analysis Sexual harassment in the workplace is a vocal or physical activity with sexual temperament conducted in the time of recruitment or in the workplace by the manager or the employee or any person of the concerned unit that makes the person who is receiving it, uncomfortable as it is unwelcomed and causes the individual to feel offended. It is a form of sex discrimination and it violates the ‘Title VII of 1964 Civil Rights Act’ in the United States which was amended in 1972 (Equal Rights Advocates, Inc, 2012). Sexual harassment crops up in most of the professions as well as industries. Sexual harassment can be referred as ‘organizational violation’. Certain reports have shown that majority of ethnic women are at superior threat than the white women in terms of sexual harassment as they could experience dominance from the white men (Equal Rights Advocates, Inc, 2012). Sexual harassment can be of various types such as deliberate touching, sexual looks and gestures, sexual comment, sexual signals, gaping at someone and making sexual signals among others. Sexual harassment can depressingly affect an individual as the person may lose confidence, can get angry or can get humiliated which will lead to hamper the performance of the individual (Equal Rights Advocates, Inc, 2012). To remove sexual harassment in workplace, prevention is the suitable tool. In an organization, employers are encouraged to take crucial steps to avoid sexual harassment. Since mixing female into male-dominated situation raises the probability of sexual harassment, the experience of female soldiers relating to sexual harassment is needed to be analyzed properly. In the military, the aspect of sexual harassment is termed as the gender discrimination involving desires for sexual favors, undesirable sexual activities and physical as well as verbal contact in relation to sexual temperament. A report shows that a few secret service teams and the members were provided with sexual favors against cash in San Salvador (Madhani, Johnson, & Davis, 2012). The prevention program regarding sexual harassment in military includes ensuring of Army policy, taking decisive action relating to sexual harassment, resolving the problem at the lower level or taking appropriate disciplinary action. The senior officers should take action against sexual harassment or else they are liable to be blamed of conducting the same. Continuous monitoring should be done in respect of preventing the incidents of sexual harassment. The guidelines of the military regarding the sexual harassment is applied to the officers both on as well as off the duty hours (QuinStreet, Inc, 2012). The workplace related sexual harassment has been observed to be of two types mainly: Quid Pro Quo: The sexual activity or the sexual favor in the employment as well as in the academic career regarding promotion and benefits among others is preconditioned, refusing to which can result in denied promotion and benefits or being fired from the work as well as denied from providing benefits in academic career regarding proper grade (United Nations, 2012). Hostile Environment: The risk takes the shape of current harassment that interfaces with job by building the environment frightening and unlikable. Usually, the activities are repetitive. The environment is made unfriendly or insulting by the uneven dealing of the sexes as well as the individuals. A person is deprived of the equal service as well as the equal learning prospect guaranteed by regulation as well as the constitution (United Nations, 2012). The key to the deterrence of sexual harassment for an organization as well as the management is to make it clear that sexual harassment is intolerable at the place of work. To avoid the incidents of sexual harassment, the management should develop a sexual harassment procedure and communicate it to every individual associated with the place of work. The subsequent five steps are suggested for the employers to avoid sexual harassment (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2012). Get High-Level Management Support: Acquire high level support from the chief executive officer as well as the superior manager for putting into operation a widespread strategy to deal with sexual harassment (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2012). Write And Implement A Sexual Harassment Policy: Build up a written course of action which rules out sexual harassment in consultation with employees and related unions. The policy should be regularly promoted in the organization and the management should ensure that it is effortlessly accessible. The staff members with disability should access the policy without any problem. The policy should be updated and should be reviewed periodically to make sure that it is functioning properly and effectively (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2012). Provide Regular Training and Information on Sexual Harassment to All Staff and Management: Regular training regarding the policy should be conducted for the staff as well as the management. The base of the training should be considering the behavioral aspects that may lead to sexual harassment (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2012). Encourage Appropriate Conduct By Managers: Demonstrating professionalism is important as the line managers should understand the need of proper standards in the workplace. During the time of selection for the management positions the company must ensure that the ability to deal with the problems of sexual harassment should be there in the criteria (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2012). Create A Positive Workplace Environment: Sexually explicit articles or materials should be removed from the place of the work. A prohibiting policy regarding the inappropriate use of computers, emails as well as the internet should be developed. The organization should schedule a periodic inspection to address the employees regarding any complaints about sexual harassment (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2012). Mitsubishi Motors Manufacturing Mitsubishi is a renowned motor manufacturing company worldwide founded by Yataro Iwasaki in 1870 with its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. In 1998, the company was charged with US$34 million fine against harassing a female worker sexually. The incident took place in the Illinois plant as the company was also charged of unfriendly situation for women from 1990. However, beside this incident of paying the female worker an amount of US$34 million, the company paid several individuals in the same suits (LegalZoom.com, Inc, 2006). In the workplace of Mitsubishi, sexual harassment such as abusing verbally, obscene jokes and inappropriate behavior with the women were carried out on a regular basis. In an incident a male worker fired air gun in front of a female worker. The unfriendly and offensive workplace environment resulted in many female workers to quit the job (LegalZoom.com, Inc, 2006). Promotions were only considered when the female workers offered sexual favors to the superiors, otherwise the promotion was refused and denied. In this context, it can be recognized that Mitsubishi has remarkably cleared its flawed reputation. After these incidents, Mitsubishi appointed the former United States Labor Secretary, Lynn Martin who came and renovated the policy regarding sexual harassment as well as the complaint system (LegalZoom.com, Inc, 2006). Conclusion From the above study, it can be observed that women are being harassed sexually in the civilian workplaces as well as in the military. These ways of harassing female workers are emerging in most of the workplace in the industries. The paper has shown certain human resource policies to avert sexual harassment. If these policies are implemented and maintained properly then it can enable to protect the women from facing such kind harassments inside their place of work by a considerable extent. References Australian Human Rights Commission. (2012). five simple steps to prevent sexual harassment. Retrieved from http://www.hreoc.gov.au/sexualharassment/employers_code/COP2008.pdf Equal Rights Advocates, Inc. (2012). Know your rights: sexual harassment at work. Retrieved from http://www.equalrights.org/publications/kyr/shwork.asp LegalZoom.com, Inc. (2006). Mitsubishi Motors Manufacturing. Retrieved from http://www.legalzoom.com/legal-headlines/corporate-lawsuits/five-biggest-sexual-harassment-cases Madhani, A., Johnson, K., & Davis, S. (2012). Secret Service hit with fresh allegations. Retrieved from http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/04/gannett-secret-service-hit-fresh-allegations-042612/ QuinStreet, Inc. (2012). Army Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program. Retrieved from http://www.armystudyguide.com/study-guide-online/online-study-guide.php?cat=6 United Nations. (2012). private terminology. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/pdf/whatissh.pdf Read More