Sexual harassment is defined by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as
“unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature” (EEOC), and in many cases can be hostile, aggressive, and violent. However, harassment does not have to be overtly sexual to be unlawful. It can include repeated offensive comments and verbal abuse. When sexual harassment occurs in the workplace, it can create an intimidating situation from which the victim feels he or she cannot escape. In Rape in the Fields, women who had been sexually assaulted and raped by men in positions of power chronicled their experiences working on farms and in processing factories. The way in which the documentary distinguished They are terrorized and feel intense fear of telling anyone of the horrors to which they are subjected as they can risk losing everything.
(4) Finally, who can women who work in the farms turn to for help in dealing with their work conditions, including sexual violence? What pushes them -- or holds them back -- from turning to "authorities?"
There are some resources to which undocumented immigrant women may turn for assistance, including the lawyer Sonia Parras. Parras specializes in cases of abused immigrant women, and as an immigrant herself she understands the struggles that these marginalized people face. However, most women are afraid to seek help if they have immigrated illegally to the
United States. In situations where women are being harassed and assaulted, when it is discovered that they are illegal immigrants they are treated like criminals themselves and deported away from their families and lives in the United States. If an illegal immigrant woman is being victimized in the workplace, her rapist may threaten to have her deported or fire her from her job if she tells anyone about the sexual encounters. This makes it extremely difficult to seek help and bring the rapist to
that these women are terrified of deportation and would risk their livelihoods if they spoke out.
women actually find justice and many are forced to continue living the life of sexual abuse in
Sexual harassment by definition is based on conduct of a sexual nature. An article on ENotes.com describes sexual harassment as;
According to legal dictionary (2013), sexual harassment refers to any form of unwelcome sexual behavior or advances, appeals for sexual errands, and other form of physical or verbal conduct or behavior that portrays sex nature and tends to make the working environment offensive or hostile. Any behavior or remarks that take such forms constitute sexual harassment when: Compliance to such conduct happens either implicitly or explicitly based on employment of an individual, rejection or compliance to such conduct is used to make decisions during employment and when such conduct interferes or affects performance of a person at the workplace. Sexual harassment ta...
Roberts, Barry S. and Richard A. Mann. ?Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: A Primer.? n.pag. On-line. Internet. 5 Dec 2000. Available WWW:
Incidents of IPV are known to include four basic types of behavior, including: Physical abuse, which is when a person either hurts or attempts to hurt their partner by physical force. Sexual abuse is the forcing of an intimate partner to take part in a sexual act without the consent of that partner. Emotional abuse is the act of threatening a partner, his or her possessions or loved ones, or the harming of a partner’s sense of self-worth. Examples of emotional abuse include; stalking, name calling, intimidation, or not letting a partner see friends and family ("Understanding intimate partner," 2006).
As reported in Kementerian Sumber Manusia (1999), verbal harassment is one of the five forms of sexual harassment. Verbal harassment includes whistles, leers, comments about her figure (especially her breasts) her sex life, sexual propositions and jokes.
“Such a woman faces two major obstacles: fear and finance -- fear for her safety and that of her children and a lack of money to support herself or them. The most dangerous time in the life of a battered woman is when she attempts to leave her abuser. Threatened by the loss of control, the batterer is likely to become even more violent and may even try to kill her. There are simply not enough shelters to protect all the women who need them” (1).
Eliza G.C. Collins and Timothy B. Blodgett. "Sexual Harassment…Some See It…Some Won’t" Harvard Business Review, March 1981. Web. 6 June 2015.
It seems that women have been raised to expect the injustices inflicted on them; therefore, forcing them to endure and accept the constant objectification they receive. It is true that women are subject to a higher risk of sexual assault: as a matter of fact, women experience sexual harassment during their everyday lives. Sexual harassment can be imposed in a number of ways, ranging from cat calling and stalking, all the way to rape. Although men do experience sexual assault, women are 10 times more likely to be the victims of sexual assault while the "overall [amount of] sexual assault offenders were most often men..." (Conroy and Cotter). Sexual Harassment takes place in the workforce, schools, on the streets, and generally within society.
Sexually harassing conduct constitutes a violation of Title VII of the Federal Civil Rights Act (title 42, U.S.C. SECTION 2000) and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) (Gov. Code section 12940, et seq.). Departmental policy requires that all employees assume responsibility to maintain a work environment free from such conduct. Agencies should publicize penalties and encourage assertive actions on the employees who are targets of unwanted sexual attention. The managers and supervisors should be firm and consistent in punishing the harasser. A...
The society we live in is rape-conducive, rape-friendly, if you will. Despite the anger I feel joining those two words together, I know the sad paradox holds within it a great deal of truth. We are a violent society that has shrouded rape in mystery and shame. To stop this nightmare’s venomous crusades, all people must wage a private war to eradicate their own acceptance of the savage crime. While it is only a minority of men that actually commit rape, it is everyone’s silence that tells them it’s ok.
Clark, C. S. (1991, August 9). Sexual harassment. CQ Researcher, 1, 537-560. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher
Sexual harassment can happen in the form of belittling remarks regarding specific gender.... ... middle of paper ... ... To conclude, sexual harassment is a tremendously huge issue that should be taken seriously.
Signs of harassment can range from comments on a woman’s breasts or hips to unwanted "accidental" fondling or offensive pictures being brought to their attention. Harassment can also tak...