Sexual harassment: What passes as chivalry today could end your career tomorrow
Sexual harassment: What may ordinarily pass as chivalry can make one not only lose a source of income but also reputation.
What you need to know:
- A court ruling upholding the dismissal of a bank manager for sexually harassing a colleague establishes that intention doesn't matter, only the impact on the victim.
- There is a 70.3 per cent prevalence of sexual harassment among Nairobi youth aged 15-29.
- Its consequences include discomfort for victims, distorted professional relationships, and damage to organisational reputation.
The news last week that Justice Christine Bari of the Employment and Labour Relations Court upheld the dismissal of a bank manager for sexually harassing his colleague is a clear signal that what may ordinarily pass as chivalry can make one not only lose a source of income but also reputation.
According to the coverage, the bank manager accepted patting the backside of a female teller “in appreciation” of her diligence in ensuring that the day’s accounts balanced. He had also made unsavoury comments towards another female colleague. The court stated that “the workplace must remain a space of mutual respect”.
This case raises pertinent issues about social conduct and public understanding of the vice. Sexual harassment is any act of a sexual nature that is unwelcome, uninvited and unrequited, and which makes its target uncomfortable, offended, demeaned, humiliated, coerced and undignified. It could be physical, verbal, pictorial, electronic, or take any other form and could target and/or come from a person of the same or opposite sex.
There are four ingredients here. First, the act is of a sexual nature. This does not mean that it involves the genitalia. Rather, the denotations and connotations are sexually suggestive. Second, it is unwelcome to the person receiving it. The recipient finds it offensive and undesirable, regardless of whether the perpetrator intended it to be so. As the court repeated, the threshold for determining what constitutes sexual harassment is not the intention of the doer but the effect on the target. Thus one cannot say that s/he meant no harm or did not know that the behaviour was injurious. In law, ignorance is not a defence.
Third, the act is uninvited. The target has not solicited or encouraged it. Fourth, it is not reciprocated in similar measure so it is not a mutual engagement. Fifth, it is not unidirectional but can originate from either sex and target members of the opposite or same sex. In other words, a man can sexually harass another man; women likewise.
Examples of sexual harassment include: sexually suggestive comments and jokes; uncalled for but deliberate physical contact; electronic messages, repeated invitations and gifts with sexual connotations; use of sexual innuendo; references to one’s sexuality, sexual conduct, attire and body; and threats to one’s prospects for non-compliance with the demands.
One problem with sexual harassment is the difficulty in proving it, because it often occurs clandestinely. Thus it is usually a case of one person’s word against that of another. Organisations go round this by advising staff to do a number of things. First, is to make sure that the act is repudiated when it occurs and the offender asked unequivocally to stop it. Second is to keep vivid records of the occurrences for use as evidence.
Third is to inform a confidante who can help the victim monitor the cases. Fourth is to involve a third party who can tactically challenge the perpetrator to terminate the behaviour. When these fail, the target is advised to report to the relevant structure in the organisation. In some cases, legal action is advised.
A recent study conducted jointly by researchers from the John Hopkins University, Kenyatta University and the International Centre for Reproductive Health (Kenya) under Agile 2.0 Gender/GBV Evidence to Action Project established a 70.3 per cent prevalence of sexual harassment among youth aged 15-29 in Nairobi. The behaviour was mostly manifested in leering (57.9 per cent); unwanted sexual comments, innuendos, jokes or gestures (54.6 per cent); and unwanted sexual attention (42.0 per cent). The study underlined women’s overall diminished sense of safety in public places because of such behaviour.
Section 23 of the Sexual Offences Act of Kenya states that sexual harassment is an offence that interferes with work, educational performance and delivery of services. The Employment Act requires employers with more than 20 employees to develop a sexual harassment policy, a strange presumption that this vice does not exist in smaller entities.
Safer havens
The issue of sexual harassment might look like too much ado about nothing. However, it has several consequences. The target feels uncomfortable, loses morale, is unable to concentrate and becomes unproductive and defensive. Professional relationships are distorted by the atmosphere wrought with rumours, counter-rumours and gossip. Valuable company time is diverted to investigations, listening to the parties and management meetings.
The image of the organisation takes a nose dive. Individuals that are unable to withstand the pressure and succumb find themselves in relationships out of duress. In some cases, they may even terminate their employment to seek safer havens.
The issue must, therefore, be addressed for several reasons. It is a social nuisance, an abuse of human rights and a crime. The court’s message is simple but clear. Better be safe than sorry.
The writer is a lecturer in Gender and Development Studies at South Eastern Kenya ([email protected]).
