Sexual Harassment

The Beginnings of Sexual Harassment Law

Early legal conceptions of sexual harassment in the United States located the conduct squarely at work and theorized two kinds of sexual harassment. The first is quid pro quo sexual harassment—a clear use of supervisory power over women to get sexual favors. The second kind of sexual harassment, hostile environment, does not necessarily involve the hierarchical abuse of power. This type of sexual harassment is characterized by a workplace that is intimidating, demeaning, offensive, and so pervasively and sexually hostile that women are unable to succeed or otherwise to be productive workers. These two types of sexual harassment were characterized as a kind of sex discrimination under the 1964 U.S. Civil Rights Act and ultimately incorporated into the 1980 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidelines. The first U.S. Supreme Court decision on sexual harassment, Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (477 U.S. 57, 1986), upheld the distinctions made between quid pro quo and hostile environment sexual harassment.

Development of Sexual Harassment Law outside the United States

As sexual harassment cases progressed through the U.S. courts, feminist academics, women in unions, and legal scholars traveled the world discussing the issue and exchanging ideas with feminists in Europe [Page 1368]and elsewhere. As in the United States, sexual harassment in European countries was an issue of employment, making it an appealing issue to the feminist factions of trade unions and to the “femocrats” working within government. The 1980 U.S. EEOC guidelines served to consolidate an early model for policy debates. For example, the Health Research Employees Association of Australia (1983) and the Charter for Equality for Women within Trade Unions (TUC) in the United Kingdom (1979) also defined sexual harassment as discrimination based on sex.

The European Union (EU) issued a resolution calling for Dignity for Women at the Workplace in 1984 and initiated a research study on sexual harassment in the European Communities. The European Council passed a nonbinding recommendation on sexual harassment in 1990, and the European Commission issued a code of conduct. Both served as policy models for the member states and for corporations operating within and beyond the EU's boundaries. In 2002, an update of the Equal Treatment Directive required member states to revise or adopt sexual harassment laws and to define sexual harassment as sex discrimination. By 2007, almost all 27 countries of the EU reported employment legislation dealing with sexual harassment. Asian countries, such as Bangladesh, Japan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, India, and China have reported adopting sexual harassment legislation. Even where the national government may not have a law regarding sexual harassment, local or provincial governments may adopt sexual harassment law.

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