Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment remains a common occupational hazard for women. It is estimated that over half of all women will experience some form of sexual harassment during college and/or their working lives. Women in male-dominated workplaces, in blue-collar jobs, or who are marginalized due to their race, sexual orientation, or social class often experience higher rates of sexual harassment than the general population. Although the vast majority of all sexual harassment cases involve men harassing women, there are also cases of men being sexually harassed. These cases usually involve same-sex harassment, where a man is targeted as a form of hazing or for perceived violations of hypermasculine gender role stereotypes. Sexual harassment is both prevalent and harmful for targets and the organizations within which they work. Once harassed, individuals, whether male or female, report a variety of negative outcomes related to their work, health, and psychological well-being. Across a spectrum of outcome measures, harassed men and women fair more poorly than those without a history of harassment. Specifically, research has documented detriment to the job satisfaction, work productivity, supervisor satisfaction, absenteeism, and turnover rates of harassed employees—the costs of which can reach billions of dollars annually for federal and private institutions. The psychological and health-related costs are equally high, with targets [Page 1622]reporting numerous symptoms, such as depression, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and health problems following harassment. Despite the contributions of individual and sociocultural factors, organizations have many strategies at their disposal to reduce the prevalence of sexual harassment within their institutions. These efforts will not only protect employees from the harm of harassment, but also limit employers' legal liability. Ultimately, an equitable work environment that is free of harassment benefits everyone within the institution.