There
is a wave of sexual harassment cases going around in workplaces around the
world especially in the film industry. A day has not gone by without a case
where an accusation has been made of sexual harassment from Harvey Weinstein, Kevin
Spacey, Dustin Hoffman to Jeffrey Tambor just to mention but a few. One significant
common similarity in all the cases involving workplace sexual harassment is
that men have been known to be the major perpetrators of the vice. In Malawi,
few if not none of cases of sexual harassment come out and an action taken
against the perpetrators. The million dollar question that comes out of this is:
do issues of sexual harassment happen or take place in places of work in Malawi?
If the vice is present, why are the cases not reported?
It
is a fact even without conducting a comprehensive research, that sexual harassment
cases do take place in workplaces in Malawi. These may range from unwarranted
sexual advances, unwelcome
or unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that leads to discomfort or humiliation,
offensive gestures, sexual favoritism where a person who is in a position of
authority rewards only those who respond to sexual advances or those who bow to
sexual demands whilst other deserving employees not submitting themselves to
such sexual advances are denied fair rewards. The list is endless.
The impact of sexual harassment on
the business cannot be overlooked. Such effects of sexual harassment may
involve amongst others absenteeism, demotivation, disengagement, lower
productivity, high labour turnover and a disruption of relationships within the
workplace. One of the sad thing in this aspect is that Human Resource Practitioners
in Malawi are in the bandwagon of being perpetrators of sexual harassment. Human
resource managers have been known to seek sexual favors from job applicants and
sweeping under the carpet issues that have been reported to them especially
where it involves top managers and other wielders of power.
It is imperative for organizations and indeed
human resource practitioners to set up deliberate policies that aim at addressing
sexual harassment in the workplace. The policies should aim to combat and deal
vigorously with any incidents of sexual harassment which may take place by
providing a procedure for reporting, correcting and dealing with such unwanted
behaviour. All forms of sexual harassment should be eliminated and human resource
practitioners should create a culture that detects and prevents all forms of
sexual harassment from occurring in the workplace. Sexual harassment cases
should not be ignored or swept under the carpet. They should be thoroughly
investigated and all culprits should face appropriate sanctions. The human
resource practitioners in Malawi should be champions of this function by making sure that victims of sexual
harassment are protected and that in no way are they victimized. They should
endeavor to ensure that any victimization that may result from lodging a
genuine complaint of sexual harassment is dealt with the utmost severity.
