Impact of Sexual Harassment-Free-Samples-Myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. Answer: Introduction Sexual harassment can be considered as the uninvited sexual advance or any undesirable request in favor of sexual activity that makes a person feel insulted or offended (Sahgal and Dang 2017). Some of the most common sexual harassing behavior include unwelcome staring and touching, passing jokes or comments, uninvited dating, request for having sex, uncomfortable questions about a persons private body, sexual physical contact or even explicit sexual mails or SMS (Charlesworth 2017). The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) found in 2012 that one-third of women and one-sixth of men reported sexual harassment in workplace in past four years. Moreover, the sexual harassment complaints have increased to 247 in 2016 from 186 in 2007 (Alcorn 2017). In the year 2016, according to Australian Federal Police, 20% of men and 46% of women employees were sexually harassed (Alcorn 2017). The statistics is provided in figure 1 from where it can be observed that the sexual harassment activities are growing at a steady rate. Sexual harassment in workplace mostly impacts on paying attention while working and even the victims skip group meetings or avoid being social (Sahgal and Dang 2017). Moreover, the emotional well-being of an individual is jeopardized, which finally leads to mental and physical health issues associated with loss of appetite, sleep disturbances or even weight fluctuations (Sahgal and Dang 2017). Figure 1: Sexual Harassment Statistics in Australia (Source: Alcorn 2017) Theoretical Section Marxist Feminism According to Luxton (2014), Marxist feminism is considered as the sub-category of feminist ideology.It emphasizes on dismantling capitalism so thatoptimum liberty can be given to women.According to this feminist theory, social institutions that focus on capitalism and private property create the differences between genders, which lead to oppression among female. Moreover, Ferguson (2014) highlighted that Marxist feminism focuses on economic inequality, social dependence and unhealthy social relations between both genders. All these factors give rise to female oppression in the contemporarycontext of society. Therefore, it can be said that due to the difference between men and women in terms of higher power creates the sense of oppression among female by men. While considering the facts and statistics that are mentioned earlier, it has been found that the Australian female employees are the most vulnerable towards sexual harassment. This is because in the society men are having higher power of control than women. Hossain, Ahmad and Siraj (2016) pointed out that female individuals are under oppression due to dominant power structure in the society.This power structure has resulted to create capitalism where the maximum power is enjoyed by men. While considering the viewpoint of Gordon (2016), it can be said that through the Marxist historical standpoint, it has been analyzed that the social phenomena associated with female sexual morality is quite widespread. This consists of sexual purity and virginity fixation, fierce punishment and incrimination of females who pledge adultery, and believes women to be submissive to their husbands. While considering the Australian female sexual harassment data, it has been found that the rate of such trend is gradually increasing year after year (Alcorn 2017). From the Marxist feminism theory, it has been understood that the Australian men are having more power than that of female. It can also be said that the nation has huge gender difference in terms of power distribution. This is because the male has highlighted their power of dominance due to which female are the most oppressed. Moreover, the pool of adults is found maximum in any workplace.The male can exemplar their position in society in terms of position, financial status or even property. On the other hand, since female are not generally given higher position in an organization, hence their power of property becomes stagnant, which instigates male to sexually harass female. Therefore, if gender diversity is equalized, the rate of sexual harassment can be neutralized in future. Radical Feminism According to Epure (2014), Radical feminism is such a societal perspective where the male supremacy is disregarded by considering all economic and social contexts. The radical feminists consider society to be a patriarchy.In such a society male dominates female and therefore challenges the existing societal norms to restore justice for female. On the other hand, Mackay (2015) pointed out that radical feminists believe justice for female can be only restored by opposing the female sexual objection. This can be done by raising awareness in society considering issues such as violence against women and rape. Therefore, from the views of authors, it can be said that radical feminists believe the root cause of the oppression for female starts from institutional structures and social roles, which are constructed from patriarchy and male supremacy. While considering the sexual harassment scenario of Australia, it can be said that the root cause of sexual harassment for female is due to male supremacy within organizations. Wilson (2015) pointed out that only 30 percent of employees are female who are given the opportunity to hold higher position in an organization (Sahgal and Dang 2017). Eventually, the exposure of female towards higher power in an institution is extremely lagging. Moreover, it can also be said that female employees are subjected to social discrimination and injustice in this male dominated society due to which they are the victim. Wilson (2015) highlighted that radical feminism theory is quite different from rest of the theories because it focuses on complete elimination of patriarchy through social transformation unlike gender equalization.Radical feminists try to get rid of traditional gender roles by changing the social norms. While considering this theory, it has been understood that sexual assault in the Australian workplace has been increasing because only men are given the opportunity to construct the society. Therefore, the misbalance of power due to patriarchy has instigated the sense of sexual harassment against female. In such a situation, the value for women needs to be increased. Such higher value will in turn give them higher power in society. Radical feminism theory if analyzed with organizational norms, it can be said that Australian companies will need to reconstruct their operational and positional sub-sections so that the patriarchy can be eliminated. In comparison to men, female will have unfluctuating property and power within the institution or society. Moreover, the sense of ownership among male for respectable positions will get destroyed, which will eventually help in reducing the cause and instinct of sexual harassment towards female Reference List Alcorn, G. 2017.'Perverse outcomes': How Australia is failing sexual harassment victims. [online] The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/18/kate-jenkins-on-how-australia-is-failing-sexual-harassment-victims [Accessed 26 Mar. 2018]. Charlesworth, S. 2017.Workplace harassment: How to spot it and what to do. [online] ABC News. Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-29/don-burke-sexual-harssment-tip-of-the-iceberg-women-workplace/9205092 [Accessed 26 Mar. 2018].