Sexual Harassment at Workplace: Effects and Reactions

Sexual harassment at workplace is a phenomenon that has many implications for women. Also, organizations and other employees are not immune to the devastating consequences of sexual harassment against women. Victimized women respond to harassment differently, such as silence, tolerance, bullying and aggression, leaving the workplace and even positive responding to sexual demands. In this article, in-depth interviews with victims will address the reactions and effects of harassment. We have also used the same tool to analyze the consequences of sexual harassment in organizations. The main questions of the study were the type of victim response to the harasser, the impact of the harassment on the victim, and the organization or other staff. The findings are obtained from interpretation and classification of in-depth and semi-structured interviews with 25 women in 23-47 age groups. They were selected from those with bachelor and doctoral degrees and working in government and private sectors. In order to obtain data, 5 open-ended and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 5 managers and administrative and financial assistants of public and private companies. The results of qualitative content analysis of interviews with victims, focused group, and the organizational management panel showed that womenchr('39')s responses differed by education, age, public or workplace privacy, from fear and silence to aggressive responses and complaints. And even retreats toward harassers were different. From individual perspective, harassment causes depression, morbid fears, prolonged anxiety, pessimism and suspicion, physical illness, labeling and social isolation. From an organizational point of view, there is virtually no protection mechanism for victims, which results in the abandonment of work, unwanted displacements, harassing dismissals, and even harassment and reduced organizational productivity.