Industrial Revolution And Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is defined as bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome, intentional and inappropriate promise of reward for sexual favours (Paludi & Paludi, 2003). Sexual harassment can take the form of a singular offence (i.e. a "quid pro quo”), or it can occur as a result of multiple offences creating a poisoned or hostile working environment. “Quid pro quo” is a situation in which a punishment or promotion is made conditional on whether an employee submits to sexual advances or not. A violation is defined as one singular incidence of “quid pro quo”; a repeated pattern of ‘violations’ is what formulates a hostile work environment. Sexual harassment can take a variety of forms: “unsolicited and unwelcome flirting, sexual

Sexual harassment can be traced all the way back to the era of chattel slavery. During this time, African American women were used for domestic services and they often experienced forms of sexual coercion. The Industrial Revolution was a period when the sexual division of labour was established, creating sexual harassment as a by-product. The Industrial Revolution differentiated paid work from unpaid domestic work and established that men would take the paid position and women were to take the unpaid position. When women attempted to enter the paid positions normally held by men, they were sexually harassed, paid less money and forced to face unequal opportunities for improvement. Men feared that the women entering the workforce would undercut their wages, so they used sexual harassment to maintain control and dominance in the workforce. At the time of the Industrial Revolution, sexual harassment was both accepted and legal, but as time progresses to modern day, there has been a moral transition. Sexual harassment of any type is now both unaccepted and illegal in the workplace. Women’s fight for equality has lead to the establishment of many law and precedents to protect women’s rights. As time has progressed, women are now generally more respected and protected in the workforce, but sexual harassment still widespread. According to Canadian Business,

Sexual harassment has profoundly difference impacts on females compared to males. According to a national research pole by the Angus Reid Institute forty-three percent of women have been sexually harassed at work and only twelve percent of men say they have. According to this pole women are more then three times more likely to be the victims of sexual harassment compared to men. This isn’t on a one-time basis either, the report stated that forty-eight percent of people have been harassed two to five instances. Even more disturbingly twenty eight percent of people have been harassed on more then five instances. There is even a comparable difference among genders in the acceptance of sexual harassment. Twenty one percent of women say it’s acceptable to call a colleague’s outfit sexy but thirty four percent of men think it’s acceptable. This illustrates how men view sexual harassment as more acceptable then women. If men view harassment as acceptable they have nothing preventing their actions. Furthermore this issue can be made worse by the fact that only sixteen percent of women think the issue of sexual harassment is overblown, compared to thirty four percent of men who say the issue is overblown. A majority of men are ignorant to extent of the impact that sexual harassment as on women’s mental and physical