Centre for Social Policy Studies (CSPS), University of Ghana, Legon

No. 9 ISSN 0855-3726 August 2001

BY AUGUSTINE KOBINA ANDOH

^{Augustine Kobina Andoh is a Senior Organiser for Information/Documentation at the Centre for Social Policy Studies, University of Ghana, and the Project Administrator of the MDS Ghana Project.}

Sexual harassment in the workplace is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favours and verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when:

• Submission to such conduct is made explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of the employment of an individual;
• Submission to, or rejection of, such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting the individual;
• Or such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with the work performance of an individual or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment.

Sexual harassment involves privacy invasion, or access to the self beyond which it is desired. It is distinct from romantic relationships that are consensual.

Findings of this research indicate that, about 74% of female employees and 42% of male employees in Ghana experience sexual harassment within the working environment. The forms of harassment experienced include:

• Unwanted repeated proposals;
• Unwanted sexual teasing, jokes, questions or remarks;
• Pressure for dates;
• Unwanted love letters, cards, or telephone calls;
• Unwanted sexual looks, gestures or pornographic materials;
• Unwanted touching of intimate body parts;
• Pressure for sexual favours, e.g. kisses etc.;
• Demand for sex in exchange for employment opportunities;
• Demand for sex in exchange for employment-related benefits; and
• Attempted or actual sexual assault or rape.

Although women generally are the frequent victims of sexual harassment in the workplace, the more frequent victims are specifically the single or unmarried women. This is also true in the case of men. This seems to suggest that, whether male or female, being single renders an individual very vulnerable to sexual harassment in the workplace.

Coupled with the above, it is observed that the age group in which most female employees experience sexual harassment in the workplace for the first time is 21-25 years.

It is noted on the other hand that, over two-thirds of the perpetrators of sexual harassment in the workplace are males. By categorising male perpetrators according to their marital statuses and the positions they hold within organisations, married male superiors/employers are the most frequent perpetrators of workplace sexual harassment. About 68% of the male perpetrators are men who are married and are in influential positions within organisations. The second frequent male perpetrators happen to be married male peers or colleagues.

Due to the acute problem of unemployment, some employers and managers of organisations tend to take advantage of desperate but potential female employees. Sex is made a condition for employment by some managers, and would not employ qualified females who fail to respond positively to their sexual demands and advances. Coupled with this, females who manage to get employed are, many a time, constrained to tolerate the unacceptable sexual behaviours of their bosses so as to keep their jobs.

Seeking favours from especially members of the opposite sex also creates the environment for the occurrence of sexual harassment within the workplace most often. By seeking favours from others, one is placed at a somewhat subordinate level in relation to the individual doing the favour. Taking into cognisance the fact that power often plays an important role in the occurrence of sexual harassment, the one from whom favour is being sought may take advantage of the helplessness and powerlessness of the individual seeking favour to sexually harass him or her. The individual doing the favour may even come up with sex-related conditions that must be met before the needed assistance may be granted.

Female employees specifically sometimes sexually harass, or better, force themselves sexually on male superiors as a means of gaining access to certain expectations or needs. That is, some female employees deliberately engage men in authority through a variety of means to be related to them sexually so that they could get certain employment-related benefits such as salary increment, promotion or transfer; or for some other economic, religious, social and/or political benefits.

Lust, low morals, drug dependency and alcoholism are other factors that contribute to the prevalence of the unacceptable conduct within organisations in the country

The effects or repercussion of sexual harassment in the workplace are very many. Both groups and individuals experience various effects of sexual harassment. Principal among the affected are the individual target or victim, the alleged harasser or perpetrator, and the employing organisation.

The first effect experienced by most victims of workplace sexual harassment in Ghana has to do with a wide range of psychological and emotional problems, including the loss of self-esteem and self-confidence, as well as feelings of helplessness, distress, anxiety, anger and depression.

Stress-related illnesses are also quite common effects of sexual harassment on victims. Some victims speak of experiencing stress-related illnesses such as headaches, stomach pains, nervousness, forgetfulness or insomnia resulting in tiredness, irritability and depression. These stress-related illnesses could lead in the long run to anorexia, alcoholism, drug dependence and even suicide. This implies therefore that, sexual harassment cannot be regarded as a minor irritation with marginal consequences. It is quite serious.

Another consequence that quite a substantial number of victims in Ghana experience after refusing to acquiesce to the sexual advances or demands of their superiors is unfavourable performance appraisal reports by the harassers. The bad reports are often calculated to discredit the work performance of the victims, so as to form a basis upon which they could be subsequently dismissed.

Female victims specifically at times experience consequences such as unfair dismissals and transfers due to their refusal to give in to the sexual demands of their superiors.

Finally, financial and economic losses are other consequences of sexual harassment experienced by some victims. The financial and economic losses come about when victims tend to fall sick due to persistent harassment and thus have to pay for drugs, or through unfair dismissals and transfers. There are however several other ways by which victims may lose economically or financially.

The first effect of sexual harassment on the harasser is the loss of self-respect, integrity and to some extent authority within the organisation.

It is also to be noted that, an accusation of sexual harassment may have the nasty effect of damaging the career of the accused, whether or not the accusation is meritorious.

The harasser also stands the risk of being taken to court or reported to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice and made to pay a heavy compensation to the complainant when proved guilty.

One of the major effects of sexual harassment experienced by organisations is the destruction of relationships and networks among organisational participants, which in the long run also leads to loss of productivity.

Sexual harassment in the workplace also destroys the image of organisations. There is a very negative social stigma attached to sexual harassment and sexual offences in Ghana. Thus when it becomes public that some officials within an organisation are even alleged to be involved in sexual harassment, it destroys the public image of the organisation, irrespective of whether there is truth in the allegation.

Coupled with the above, some organisations tend to lose key employees either through voluntary resignation or unfair dismissal due to sexual harassment within the working environment.

Rapid employee turnover is another unpleasant consequence of sexual harassment on organisations. High employee turnover affects organisations financially, since it costs organisations a substantial amount of money to advertise for new employees, conduct interviews, select qualified applicants, provide orientation courses and give training to new applicants. This implies that, if an organisation has to be constantly turning over its employees due to unchecked incidence of sexual harassment within the workplace, then a very substantial amount of its financial resources is going to be wasted in the recruitment and training of new employees all the time. And this could be harmful to especially organisations that require very skilled labour.

Victims of sexual harassment frequently absent themselves, report late to work, and close from work before time so as to avoid having to be left alone with their harassers at any particular point in time. The consequential absenteeism, lateness and closing from work before time lead organisations to incur unnecessary costs.

Conducting investigations into allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace has financial and time wasting consequences on organisations in Ghana. Due to the complex and delicate nature of sexual harassment cases, officials who are formally charged with the responsibility of investigating allegations often require a lot of time and financial resources to arrive at the truth, so as not to punish an alleged harasser without establishing beyond reasonable doubt that he or she is indeed guilty of the offence. However, while it is good for investigators to take time and use all the necessary resources and means to arrive at the truth, the organisation must pay for the time lost and the monies covering the entire investigation. This tends to affect organisations financially, and also in terms of time.

The most important effect of sexual harassment on organisations is realised when the case is not handled at the organisational level but goes to court or is reported to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice. Victims do take legal action against harassing supervisors, employers or organisations, especially in instances where the unacceptable behaviour is followed by reprisals such as unfair transfer, denial of promotion, or unfair dismissal. The employer or the organisation may be made to compensate the victim financially, when it is established that the employer or superior of the organisation is guilty of sexual harassment.

The first of the suggestions to help combat the practice is the urgent need for the introduction of a definite and explicit national policy on workplace sexual harassment in Ghana. A definite and an unambiguously stated national anti-harassment policy that is effectively communicated to all employees in Ghana would certainly serve as a deterrent to harassers.

The most effective method for the reduction of sexual harassment in the workplace is educational training. There is therefore the need for educational training on sexual harassment to be made mandatory for all employees. The educational training must have the goal of teaching interpersonal skills; the national and organisational policies on sexual harassment; and how to prevent the occurrence of sexual harassment in the workplace.

Apart from educating employees on the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace, there is the need for organisations to train officials on how to investigate and handle complaints of sexual harassment in a more professional manner. Sexual harassment is a pretty delicate issue. There is thus the need for only specialists with the requisite know-how to be engaged to investigate and deal with complaints, especially at the organisational level.

Prevention, they say, is better than cure. There is therefore the need for all organisations in Ghana to take preventive measures against sexual harassment. One major measure to help prevent the high incidence of sexual harassment in the workplace is for organisations to have dress codes.

Another preventive measure is for female employees particularly to desist from persistently asking unnecessary favours from men, getting involved in indecent sexual jokes, and frequently using romantic or sexy language to male employees since that tends to create the opportunity for the occurrence of sexual harassment.

It is also recommended that the society as a whole would change the culture of blaming victims of sexual harassment and other sexual crimes as being the cause of their victimisation even where the harassment is through no fault of theirs. Not until society ceases the practice of blaming victims as contributing to their harassment, several victims may be forced to keep their experiences to themselves and not report to management or the legal bodies for the necessary action to be taken to stop the harasser from perpetrating the act.

To help minimise the incidence of workplace sexual harassment, it is also recommended that the government and private entrepreneurs would make efforts to solve the acute unemployment problem.

It is strongly believed that an effective implementation of the above suggestions would go a long way to prevent, minimise and/or eradicate the occurrence of sexual harassment within the working environment.