Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Essay -- Sexual Harassment, Womens

Sexual harassment is a violation of women's rights and a prohibited form of violence against women in many countries. Sexually harassing conduct causes devastating physical and psychological injuries to a large percentage of women in workplaces around the world. Harassment directed against women in the workplace by their supervisors, fellow employees, or third parties interferes with the integration of women in the workforce, reinforces the subordination of women to men in society, violates women's dignity and creates a health and safety hazard at work. Women's advocates around the world work to further women’s right to be free from sexual harassment. Critical to these efforts to combat sexual harassment has been the growing recognition of sexual harassment as a form of violence against women which violates women's human rights. States are obligated under international law to take effective steps to protect women from violence and to hold harassers and/or their employers accountable for sexual harassment in the workplace. The prohibition of sexual harassment in the workplace is closely linked with theories relating to the subordination of women to men that were first introduced in the United States in the 1970s. These theories associated sexual harassment with violence against women, the perpetuation of gender stereotypes and the assertion of economic power over women, all phenomena which serve to subordinate women to men. In general, the role sexual harassment is believed to play in the subordination of women in society has led many countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan and South Africa, to recognize sexual harassment as an actionable form of sex discrimination. Over time, howe... ...orris, N. M. (1985). Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 10. Sobel, M. E., & Leinhard, S. (Ed.) (1982). Sociological methodology 1982. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association. 11. Swearer, S. M., Espelage, D. L., & Napolitano, S. A. (2009). Bullying prevention and interventions: Realistic strategies for schools. New York, NY: Guilford Press. 12. Touchette, E., Henegrar, A., Godart, N. T., Pryor, L., Falssard, B., Tremblay, R. E., & Cote, S. M. (2011). Psychiatry Research. 13. Willett, J. B., & Sayer, A. G. (1994). Psychological Bulletin. 14. Woodside, D. B., Garfinkel, P. E., Lin, E., Goering, P., & Kaplan, A. S. (2001). American Journal of Psychiatry. 15. Zurbriggen, E. L., Collins, R. L., Lamb, S., Roberts, T., Tolman, D. L., Ward, L. M., & Blake, J. (2007). Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls.