Sexual Harassment. Can You Regonize It?

Picture courtesy of life123.com 

It was 1983 when a young newlywed, Laura Cardillo from the Bronx, was working at her dead-end, 9-to-5 job saving up for a new house with her hubby. Her manager called her into his office and told her to sit. She thought this was strange but waited to see what he had to talk to her about. He quickly closed the door behind her and scrambled behind his desk. He then pulled out a Playboy magazine from his top right draw and told Cardillo to “check this out.” In disgust
Cardillo quickly ran out of her manager’s office and they never spoke a word about it after.

Cardillo didn’t realize it at the time, but she was the victim of sexual harassment. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual harassment includes touching, making crude comments, suggestive remarks, teasing or taunting of a sexual nature, unwelcome physical conduct or sexual advances, continual use of offensive language, sexual bantering, bragging about sexual prowess, office or locker room pin-ups, and compliments with sexual overtones.

Women aren’t the only victims dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace. Gays/lesbians, Racism, Man to man, or customer and client complaints are now on the rise as well.

Sexual harassment is something that is not clearly understood by many and the problem is exacerbated because women are afraid to report it because their harassers are usually their bosses, and in some cases women who are bosses sometimes receive harassment for their high status. Being afraid or unaware lets many sexual harassment problems escalate and continue.

Mauricio Velasquez, President and CEO of The Diversity Training Group, which is a sexual harassment prevention center in Herndon Virginia, says Women typically do not report harassment because of, “fear of retribution. Fear of being blamed. Fear no one will listen. Fear of blaming the victim.”

A recent poll including 782 U.S. workers conducted by Louis Harris, shows that 31 percent of female workers reported harassment in the workplace when only 7 percent of men reported any sexual harassment complaints; 62 percent of these cases weren’t reported. In all cases the women were harassed by men; 59 percent of men’s harassers were women while 41 percent of the men said their harasser was a man.

Like most women, Cardillo kept quiet about it and never said a word to her superiors or her new husband. “I thought it was disgusting but I didn’t think there was anything anyone would do about it. He would deny it,” Cardillo recalled. “I was shocked but too embarrassed to tell my husband about it, so I let it go.”

Emily Pennachio, a sophomore at Iona University in New York, says, “As a female college student I’m always on guard when someone I don’t know starts to make remarks or makes me feel uncomfortable. I usually ignore the person and return to doing what I was doing in the first place,” says Pennachio. Velasquez says this is the wrong approach and,“Ignoring the conduct or treatment does not mean it goes away but often festers or escalates and it might embolden harasser.”

This situation is typically not dealt with properly for reasons of fear. Also, Velasquez says lawsuits, role of the media are factors as well. More training and education is making headway in making organizations more serious about these emerging issues. Velasquez says what you should do, if you can, is to tell the harasser to stop. “If you can’t, and most can’t because of the situation or person has power of you, document and go to your next higher manager and human resources immediately,” he says. Velasquez advices sexual harassment is something most businesses will take seriously and address properly. Otherwise, “sexual harassment affects morale, performance, relationship and ultimately the bottom line and lawsuits, bad press and an unforgiving public,” says Velasquez.

“It is better to be educated and informed than in denial,” he adds. “These issues don't take a nap during a challenging economic period. Lawsuits roll on. Be aware, anticipate, get out in front of the issues and when situations arise, investigate and act swiftly.”