Not Paid to be Fondled: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

She sits with the phone cradled between her cheek and her shoulder, her pen poised to take down notes. The line rings and rings and her mind speeds through the documents that need to be finished, the presentations that need to be finalized. Suddenly, from behind, someone touches her near the armpit, that unnamed place at the back that is only a few inches near the actual boob. Forgetting the call and disgusted by the misplaced boldness of whoever the offending hand belongs to, she turns around and sees one of the managers grinning at her. "If I touch you there," he asks, "can you go to the GAD office to complain?" Keeping her face blank, but allowing disgust to be plainly visible on the curl of her lips, she spats with as much venom as she can manage, "Yes sir." She then turns away from the manager.

In a perfect world, once told that what they do is offensive, people apologize and stop. Unfortunately, this world isn't exactly all fluff and decency is often scarce. Sexual harassment is tolerated, even encouraged, not just on the streets, but in school and at the workplace. So much for professional environments meant to foster personal and professional growth. 

Consent is sexy, ladies and gentlemen.

What is Sexual Harassment? 

Sexual harassment is primarily characterized as unwanted sexual behavior. It includes unwanted sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other conduct sexual in nature. Sexual harassment can either be verbal, physical, or, in the advent of the internet, digital. So yes, sending inappropriate messages or pictures of your boobs and/or genitals are grounds for sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment can also happen at work and at school. According to Republic Act 7877 also known as the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995[1], work, education, or training-related sexual harassment is defined as, "committed by an employee, manager, supervisor, agent of employer, teacher, instructor, professor, coach, trainor, or any other person who, having authority, influence or moral ascendancy over another in a work or training or education environment demands, requests or otherwise requires any sexual favor from the other, regardless of whether the demand, request, or requirement for submission is accepted by the object of the said Act.” That’s a mouthful. But there’s more. RA 7877 also defines work-related sexual harassment as something that would result in an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment for the employee. What does that mean? 

Intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment means that:

a. The sexual favor is used as a condition for employment, promotion, favorable compensation, terms, promotions and privileges, and refusing the demand for sexual favor means saying good bye to all of these;

b. Refusal to give in to the demand of sexual favor will impair all the employee's rights as protected by the law; and

c. The act of sexual harassment simply makes the workplace unbearable and uncomfortable.

One thing you have to know about sexual harassment: The person who determines whether he or she has been harassed is always the victim, not the perpetrator. 

What are the forms of sexual harassment?[2]

1. Physical. This includes malicious touching, overt sexual advances, and gestures with lewd insinuations. So yes, please do not touch your female co-worker's almost-boobs and ask if you will be liable for sexual harassment - you are.

2. Verbal. Which includes, but are not limited to, requests or demands for sexual favors, and lurid remarks.

3. Use of objects, pictures, graphics, letters, or written notes with sexual underpinnings. Digital media included. Here is the deal: Unless with the consent of the other party, no, they do not want you to send dickfies and boob pics. (Oh, and props to the guy who first mentioned the word dickfies to me.)


What can be done to address sexual harassment?

1. Craft policies directed towards the prevention of sexual harassment, protection of the victim, promotion of due process, and punishment of the perpetrator. As someone who works in policy, I believe that the change will emanate in policy. Policies localizes all existing laws into the context of whichever organization. Without policies the organization will most likely stumble blindly when faced with the issue. 

Here are some stuff that policy makers might want to consider:

     a. It is important to consult the end users. As Michelle Decker of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health once said, "Practice is the ceiling of policy". This means that no matter what is written if it isn't realistic enough to be done, if it is too complicated, or if it is just a whole load of codswallop, then the policy will just be another waste of oxygen-producing trees. Consultation should include reps from the management (who will enforce policy) to the regular employees (who will most likely utilize the policy) to ensure that all is amenable to the provisions. This strategy - participatory decision-making - is essential for the people of the company to have a sense of ownership and thus a higher rate of compliance.

     b. Get an expert on board. You can't shanama policies. They must be based on facts,  a true understanding of the problem, as well as the organizational peculiarities that may affect the implementation and impact of the policy. That is what you have experts for. These experts can come from different sectors - government, non-government organizations, the academe, even the health sector. It may cost a little more, but unless you want a policy just for the sake of having one, getting an expert's thumbs up is essential.

2. Promote gender equality and equity in the workplace. Like many cases of sexual abuse, sexual harassment is most likely an expression of power, or simply the general respect lack of respect for other people. Gender equality and equity are built upon the foundation of respect for other people 's rights, specifically for a safe workplace and acceptable working conditions. Being groped while in the middle of a high tension meeting is NOT acceptable working conditions. And on the subject of equality and equity, it must be noted that while a significant number of cases are that of women, men experience sexual harassment too. Thus, whatever intervention and support system made available to women should also be accessible by men.  

3. Creation of safe space. A safe space is somewhere where a victim of sexual harassment can proceed to and talk about the problem at hand without fear for privacy, breach of confidentiality, and even violent repercussions. This means that there has to be a 1) physical set-up to protect the victim from both physical hard and secondary victimization [3] and 2) personnel who are trained to handle these cases. The latter does not only require being well-versed in the company's policy on sexual  harassment, but also RA 7877. The personnel manning the safe spaces must be able to provide correct information to whoever needs it and can be called upon to educate employees on sexual harassment. Equally important, they must be able to exhibit sensitivity when dealing with victims of sexual harassment to avoid secondary victimization.

4. Don't be the creepy douche. And this applies to all genders. Respect is really quite easy. Seriously, it's not cute when you get to close. And when you're "feeling close" enough to grope someone or brush their behinds or comment on their boobs, please keep in mind that the one receiving your "friendly gestures" may not thing the same... and you know what? It's what that person thinks and feels that counts, not yours.

5. Remember: Men are NOT the enemy. Can we not fight for our rights as women while loving our counterparts? Of course we can. Besides, we must remember that sexual violence happens to men too. This is why instead of going against our counterparts, we must do our best to work with them. We must educate men on their rights to be free from sexual harassment. We must make available to our men the same support system that is available to women. We must ensure that we approach men's sexual harassment issues with the same sensitivity that we can apply to women. Want to abolish sexual harassment in the workplace? In society in general? Work together, instead of working apart.



Sexual harassment is a symptom of a greater problem: the power struggle between the powerful and perceived weaker party, not simply men and women. To address the symptom, we must address the cause. This blogpost is actually going to come out during the 18 day campaign against Violence Against Women, but the work goes beyond this period to achieve a #VAWfreePhilippines, a GBV-free country, This is a long and somewhat uphill battle, ladies and gentlemen. And we can win it by working together.#



Footnotes 

[1]Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995
[2] https://psa.gov.ph/content/q-sexual-harassment-cases
[3]Secondary victimization is defined as the negative social consequences experienced by the victims of sexual crimes