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Mentorship August 18, 2016
Last year, Cosmopolitan surveyed over 2,000 full-time and part-time women and found that one in three women have been sexually harassed at work. It’s hard enough navigating the work force as a woman, especially in male-dominated businesses, but it’s even harder when harassment is added to the list. Even though sexual harassment has proven incredibly widespread in the workforce, it can be hard to prove.
Sexual harassment doesn’t have to be from your boss or coworkers to be considered inappropriate. That customer who grabbed your butt while you were waitressing, that old man who felt your chest while you were bagging groceries, the regular at Starbucks who is inappropriately hitting on you while you’re making his macchiato – if it’s not consensual, it’s harassment.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects all employees and applicants from discrimination based on sex, race, color, culture and religion. It doesn’t specifically mention work place harassment, but the Supreme Court recognizes harassment as a form of discrimination and anything that is severe and persistent enough to create a hostile work environment.
There are two types of sexual harassment claims listed at the American Association of University Women: Quid Pro Quo and Hostile Work Environment.
Feminist Majority Foundation lists a number of actions that could be considered sexual harassment. These are a few of the definite signs that you’re being sexually harassed.
If it’s blurry whether or not you’re experiencing sexual harassment, try confronting the person. If he or she graphically describes sexual conquests to you or makes sexist or sexual jokes in your presence, you have every right to tell him or her that it makes you uncomfortable. Sometimes, it could genuinely be that he or she wasn’t aware he or she was crossing boundaries. However, if the person persists then you should report him or her.
Sometimes it’s easier to just brush harassment aside. You grow a thicker skin and learn to ignore it. You feel that saying something could cause retaliation and that you don’t have the time or energy to deal with the situation. You’d rather just sweep it under the rug and pretend it didn’t happen.
However, if you don’t say anything, that person might persist in his or her actions toward not just you but to other women as well. The more women come out and say “no” to sexual harassment, the more people will learn work boundaries.