Sexual Harassment Of Working Women

A comprehensive legal theory is needed to prevent the persistence of sexual harassment. Although requiring sexual favors as a quid pro quo for job retention or advancement clearly is unjust, the task of translating that obvious statement into legal theory is difficult. To do so, one must define sexual harassment and decide what the law's role in addressing harassment claims should be. In Sexual Harassment of Working Women,' Catharine Mac-Kinnon attempts all of this and more. In making a strong case that sexual harassment is sex discrimination and that a legal remedy should be available for it, the book proposes a new standard for evaluating all practices claimed to be discriminatory on the basis of sex. Although MacKinnon's "inequality" theory is flawed and its implications are not considered sufficiently, her formulation of it makes the book a significant contribution to the literature of sex discrimination. MacKinnon calls upon the law to eliminate not only sex dis- crimination but also most instances of sexism from society. She uses traditional theories in an admittedly strident manner, and relies upon both traditional and radical-feminist sources. The results of her effort are mixed. The book is at times fresh and challenging, at times needlessly provocative. -- https://www.jstor.org (Sep. 30, 2016).

Over the last few decades, research, activity, and funding has been devoted to improving the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in the fields of science, engineering, and medicine. In recent years the diversity of those participating in these fields, particularly the participation of women, has improved and there are significantly more women entering careers and studying science, engineering, and medicine than ever before. However, as women increasingly enter these fields they face biases and barriers and it is not surprising that sexual harassment is one of these barriers. Over thirty years the incidence of sexual harassment in different industries has held steady, yet now more women are in the workforce and in academia, and in the fields of science, engineering, and medicine (as students and faculty) and so more women are experiencing sexual harassment as they work and learn. Over the last several years, revelations of the sexual harassment experienced by women in the workplace and in academic settings have raised urgent questions about the specific impact of this discriminatory behavior on women and the extent to which it is limiting their careers. Sexual Harassment of Women explores the influence of sexual harassment in academia on the career advancement of women in the scientific, technical, and medical workforce. This report reviews the research on the extent to which women in the fields of science, engineering, and medicine are victimized by sexual harassment and examines the existing information on the extent to which sexual harassment in academia negatively impacts the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women pursuing scientific, engineering, technical, and medical careers. It also identifies and analyzes the policies, strategies and practices that have been the most successful in preventing and addressing sexual harassment in these settings.

Despite over twenty years of discussion and study, sexual harassment remains a significant problem in the workplace. Current research focusing on organizational policy and women's career development often ignores the reality of male dominance, prevalent in areas such as the military, the police, and firefighting-occupations that see not only more frequent but also more severe harassment, even sexual assault. Meanwhile, new evidence points to the fact that men are largely responsible not only for the harassment of women but for most harassment of other men as well. This landmark collection of original essays investigates the links between male dominance and sexual harassment in light of new research and more complex understandings of masculinity. Treated not merely as a matter of worker sex ratios but as an inherent element of workplace culture, male dominance is observed from a variety of quantitative and qualitative approaches ranging from criminology and sociology to psychology and gender studies. Integrating both men's and women's viewpoints, research across occupational groups, and studies from both the United States and Europe, the chapters provide an invaluable international perspective into two inextricably intertwined problems rooted in cultural constructions of gender and institutional roles and processes.

In 1977, Bonnie Robichaud accepted a job at the Department of Defence military base in North Bay, Ontario. After a string of dead-end jobs, with five young children at home, Robichaud was ecstatic to have found a unionized job with steady pay, benefits, and vacation time. After her supervisor began to sexually harass and intimidate her, her story could have followed the same course as countless women before her: endure, stay silent, and eventually quit. Instead, Robichaud filed a complaint after her probation period was up. When a high-ranking officer said she was the only one who had ever complained, Robichaud said, “Good. Then it should be easy to fix.” This timely and revelatory memoir follows her gruelling eleven-year fight for justice, which was won in the Supreme Court of Canada. The unanimous decision set a historic legal precedent that employers are responsible for maintaining a respectful and harassment-free workplace. Robichaud’s story is a landmark piece of Canadian labour history—one that is more relevant today than ever.

Simultaneously thorough and readable. This book is a must for anybody who needs to be up on the latest thinking on this complex and difficult topic. --Myra Strober, Stanford University Sexual harassment is a problem with a long past, but a short history. About 15 years after journalists and scholars first began writing about it, sexual harassment has become a household word and a topic of concern for employers and employees, and despite very little research funding, there is now a fair amount of data on this topic. Sexual Harassment in the Workplace provides a comprehensive look at what we know about sexual harassment. Editor Margaret S. Stockdale and a multidisciplinary cast of contributing authors have produced a volume that is grounded in theory, research, and practice but is accessible to researchers, advanced students, and practitioners in multiple disciplines. The topic of sexual harassment is one that is extremely timely and relevant for today′s students in women′s studies, organizational studies, and sociology. Sexual Harassment in the Workplace deals with a variety of issues and aspects of sexual harassment that will certainly spark discussion and debate.

This handbook provides an overview and synthesis of relevant literature related to the issue of the well-being of working women. This focus addresses a gap that currently exists in the quality-of-life and well-being fields. The work of the authors answers the following broad questions: Does gender matter in the well-being of working women? Do prejudices against and stereotypes of women still play a role in inter-personal interactions in the workplace that could hinder women from flourishing professionally? Does the organizational context, such as organizational culture, reward systems, and leadership, contribute to the well-being of working-women? What impact does the national context have on the well-being of working women? And finally, how can public policies help enhance the well-being of working women? These are important issues for academics, researchers, and graduate students interested in gender issues in the fields of management, sociology, psychology, social psychology, economics, and quality of life studies. Policy makers and practitioners will also find this book beneficial. Equitable treatment and outcomes for all, regardless of gender, remains a challenging goal to achieve, with various barriers in different contexts and different cultures, and this book provides strong coverage of this important topic of well-being of working women.

Here is a valuable guide that saves researchers investigating sexual harassment in the workplace enormous amounts of time and money. Focusing on the hostile environment claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Women and Sexual Harassment is a complete resource tool. In one easy-to-use volume, it provides a detailed background and history of the hostile environment claim as well as an extensive guide on how to use and where to find the best resources available on this topic. Unlike some legal books, Chan’s book does not require cover-to-cover reading to access pertinent information. Anyone, whether they are interested in the specifics of the hostile environment claim or sexual harassment in general, will be able to locate the information they’re looking for with the help of this handy guide. It saves enormous amounts of time, effort, and money for researchers by providing extensive listings and evaluations of statutes, cases, agency decisions, law review articles, annotations, and books containing information on this subject. Readers can use the book to get a better understanding of the hostile environment claim or use it like a dictionary to pinpoint the specific resources that will be most useful to their area of research. Women and Sexual Harassment is logically divided into five complete parts to make it easy to use: Part 1: Clearly explains how to best use the book to access specific information. Part 2: Describes the history and present state of the hostile environment claim in a manner that is to the point, yet is more thorough than descriptions of the claim found in articles, cases, or other sources. Part 3: Research guide--Directs researchers to the best sources for information, categorized by type and area. Includes tips that will save hours in the library and will help researchers find the most up-to-the-minute articles and cases. Part 4: Bibliography of primary legal sources--Covers statutes, regulations, and case law on the hostile environment claim and sexual harassment. Part 5: Bibliography of secondary sources--Includes books, articles, surveys, and legislative history. The annotated bibliography, broken down by type of source and type of information, not only points researchers in the right direction but also steers them away from sources that seem valuable from their title, but are in fact not worthwhile. The insightful written analysis of the hostile environment claim alone provides researchers unfamiliar with the subject with a clearly written history and definition of the claim, its key elements, employer liability, statute of limitations, remedies, considerations of discovery and evidence, and related claims. Women and Sexual Harassment is an invaluable guide for all types of researchers including victims of sexual harassment considering filing a hostile environment claim, scholars interested in women’s issues, attorneys unfamiliar with this area, employers interested in limiting their liability by taking steps to prevent sexual harassment in their workplaces, and law students in any level of courses related to sex discrimination or sexual harassment.