Confronting daily torture

In recent times there have been increasing cases of sexual harassment of females in the workplace, an issue that is often and unwisely swept under the carpet in Guyana.
Numerous women over the years have alleged they were subjected to unwelcome sexual advances on the job. Many of these individuals were subordinates and invariably felt that the way they were approached by their ‘superiors’ made it plain that raising objections or refusing would have negative consequences. Some women even claim to have been transferred to inconvenient locations because they refused to comply.
Without getting into whether the allegations in these cases are true or not, there is no doubt that sexual harassment of females is a growing problem in this country. While it is unusual for victims to complain publicly, everyone knows that incidents like these are not isolated events; in fact, they occur with disturbing frequency in our society.
One of the problems with sexual harassment is that it is hard to define in Guyana. Many persons in this country have only a vague perception of sexual harassment, and there is much variety in each individual’s opinion of what sexual harassment is. The lack of a clear definition of sexual harassment that is widely accepted by our citizenry makes the issue unusually subjective and controversial.
Also, deciding whether certain types of behaviour amount to sexual harassment usually depends on context. For example, such actions as telling a female colleague how good she looks may be just a harmless compliment, but not if it is done by a man in a context in which the female could reasonably find it distressing or unwanted.
Also, sexual harassment behaviour typically includes unwanted touching of someone’s private parts, lewd comments, sexual jokes, and persistent flirting, especially if such conduct continues after it becomes clear that the person on the receiving end does not like it.
In countries with strong legislation against this type of behaviour, sexual harassment is usually defined as sexual behaviour that the person doing it reasonably should have known was unwanted or likely to be unwanted and distressing. In that connection, they usually distinguish between two forms of sexual harassment: quid pro quo (Latin for ‘something for something&rsquo and hostile work environment.
The ‘quid pro quo’ version of sexual harassment refers to the improper soliciting of sex for a favour. This occurs when persons are harassed to give sex in exchange for jobs, promotion or perks, when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.
The version of sexual harassment called ‘hostile work environment’ refers to situations in which employees experience workplace harassment through an offensive, intimidating or oppressive atmosphere generated by the harassers. In this case, there need not be direct communication between the harasser and the victim, but the harassment must be unmistakable to the victim and within the parameters of reasonable interpretation.
It is a safe bet that many Guyanese women of all ages, ethnicities and social status would recognise these descriptions of sexual harassment as everyday occurrences in their lives. They would also realise that there is considerable variety in what different women consider offensive; some women are either unaware or extremely tolerant of sexual harassment, while others read sexual harassment in the most innocent words or actions.
The time has come for Guyana to pursue powerful legislation to prevent sexual harassment, especially with regard to females. This should be explored with full consideration of Guyana’s unique ethnic, social and cultural conventions, and it should incorporate appropriate mechanisms for public education about what constitutes sexual harassment as well as grievance resolution measures.
Sexual harassment in the workplace is a serious event and many women in Guyana are tortured by it daily. It is clear that many do not understand their rights, much less how to deal with this problem. It cannot be ignored any longer; women’s organisations and other stakeholders must take action now to help all Guyanese women assert their right to be free of sexual harassment in all its ugly forms.