lesson 6

SEXUAL HARASSMENT

BUSINESS ETHICS AND LEADERSHIP

MR. ANDY PASCUAL M. LIBIRAN
INSTRUCTOR 1
LEARNING OBJECTIVES :
1. Know the reasons why Sexual
harassment occurs.
2. Know the types of Sexual Harassment.
3. Know how Sexual Harassment affects the
workplace.
4. Know the Prevention of Acts of Sexual
Harassment.
INTRODUCTION
No doubt, business is a productive
human activity that contributes to
both people and society. however,
business is also an activity that
allows some unscrupulous people to
take advantage of others, e.g., the
abuse of fiduciary relationships
between employers and employees,
and between buyers and sellers. This
topic examines the broad array of
ethical issues and problems that
affect the flow of business as a
WHAT IS SEXUAL
HARASSMENT?
-is any unwanted verbal, physical, or non-
verbal behavior of a sexual nature that
makes someone feel unsafe, intimidated,
or humiliated.
-is any unwanted sexual behaviour that
makes someone feel upset, scared,
offended or humiliated, or is meant to
make them feel that way.
-includes unwelcome sexual advances,
requests for sexual favors, and other
verbal or physical harassment of a
sexual nature in the workplace.
ANTI-SEXUAL
ACT OF 1995
Sexual harassment is an issue
in the corporate world that
must be looked into because it
can create a hostile and
unhealthy workplace for the
employees. For this reason,
the Congress of the Philippines
enacted the Anti-Sexual Act of
1995 declaring sexual
harassment unlawful to the
Republic Act No. 7877 defines sexual harassment as,
“Employer, employee, manager, supervisor, an agent of the
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 said act.”
“The State shall value
the dignity of every
individual, enhance the
development of its
human resources,
guarantee full respect
for human rights and
uphold the dignity of
workers, employees,
applicants for
employment, students
or those undergoing
training, instruction or
WHY SEXUAL
HARASSMENT
OCCURS?
Sexual harassment is, above
all, a manifestation of power
relations, women are much
more likely to be victims of
sexual harassment precisely
because they more often than
men lack power, are in more
vulnerable and insecure
positions, lack self-confidence,
or have been socialized to
VIOLENCE AND MALE
SELF-PERCEPTION
The relationship between the
sexes in many countries
around the world includes a
considerable amount of
violence against women. Data
about the United States, for
example, indicate that one out
of every ten women are raped
or sexually assaulted during
their lives, while more than
half of all women living with
Violence by men against
women exists in the
workplace, as it does in other
settings. Some scholars, such
as Susan Faludi, the author of
Backlash: The Undeclared War
Against American Women,
suggest that male hostility
toward women in the
workplace is closely
connected to male attitudes
about the proper role of a man
THE ECONOMICS OF
WOMEN’S WORK
The problem of sexual
harassment relates to the
roles which are attributed to
men and women in social and
economic life, which, in turn,
directly or indirectly, affects
women’s positions in the labor
market.
TWO TYPES OF
SEXUAL HARASSMENT
1. “QUID PRO QUO”
HARASSMENT
- means “this for that”
(something for something)
and is defined as requiring a
sexual favor or interaction as
a condition of employment or
in exchange for an
employment benefit (such as
promotion, transfer, pay raise)
e.g., “Go to bed with me and
you will get that promotion
2. HARASSMENT THAT
CREATES A HOSTILE
ENVIRONMENT
In the Hostile Environment type
of harassment, abuses include
verbal, physical, and visual
conduct that creates an
intimidating, offensive or hostile
environment in the workplace
that interferes with work
performance. This type of
harassment may be based on
race, religion, national origin,
sex, age, marital status, veteran
SOME EXAMPLES OF A
HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT
FOLLOW:
• Unwanted touching, patting, pinching, or
brushing up against a person
• Comments about your body, leering,
wolf-whistling, catcalls, insults of a sexual
nature, persistently pestering for a date
• Displaying or circulating pornographic
pictures with the intention of harassing
someone/Posting explicitly sexual materials
SOME EXAMPLES OF A
HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT
FOLLOW:
•• Workplace blackmail -i.e., suggestions
that sexual favors may further your career
(or refusal may hinder it)
• Green jokes
• Obscene letters
• Sexual propositions
• Suggestive looks
HOW DOES SEXUAL
HARASSMENT AFFECT THE
WORKPLACE?
In the study made by Redbook Magazine in 1981, 140,000
men and women were interviewed about sexual harassment.
The result revealed that 80% of the persons interviewed
believed they had been sexually harassed. The study also
showed that the use of words, jokes, and gestures was the
type of harassment that created a hostile environment or
offensive work environment; it affected the individuals
harassed and the persons accused, who may be innocent;
such cases can generate costly lawsuits, unfavorable
publicity or the invasion of privacy, it can also affect the
 HOW SEXUAL
HARASSMENT AFFECT THE
WORKPLACE?
Sexual harassment is very costly
and causes low morale among
employees and a decrease in
productivity. Annoyed, scared,
disgraced people are incompetent in
performing well. If not dealt with,
sexual harassment may result in
costly lawsuits, dreadful publicity,
and ruin of an organization's image
HOW TO PREVENT SEXUAL
HARASSMENT IN THE
WORKPLACE?
A significant step an organization can take in preventing
sexual harassment in the workplace is by creating a safe,
secure, positive work environment by putting into practice a
strong sexual harassment policy.
SOME EXAMPLES OF
POLICY DEVELOPMENT
ARE:
• A broad anti-harassment/positive
environment policy that includes a
statement that specifically addresses sexual
harassment
A separate sexual harassment policy that
covers all organizational members
Separate sexual harassment policy, one
that addresses non-management
employees and one that addresses
management
COMMUNICATING THE SEXUAL
HARASSMENT POLICY
The best policy is ineffective if it is not
communicated well. Even if the
company already has a well-written
policy, it is important to expose it
regularly by posting on bulletin boards,
memos, articles in the organization’s
newsletter, meetings, and training.
Training programs may come up with
various topics to support the anti-
harassment programs and to assure
THANK YOU

AND GOOD
LUCK IN
YOUR FIRST
BOSS
NEON SKYLIGHT
Studios