Workplace sexual harassment in Cote d'Ivoire has been documented as extensive and commonplace, yet in West African nations, sexual harassment is not well studied or understood. Specifically, little is known about whether intervention programs instituted by the Ivorian law under Act No.98-756 forbid sexual harassment are viewed by female workers as effective. Using Hendricks and Valasek's theory on gender mainstreaming as the foundation, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the perceptions of female workers in Cote d'Ivoire related the effectiveness of sexual harassment training programs. Data for this study were collected from 15 women who worked in public or nonprofit organizations in Cote d'Ivoire. Data were inductively coded and then subjected to a thematic analysis procedure. Key findings indicated that interviewees believed that exposure to sexual harassment in the workplace results in a loss of trust in the work environment and reductions in work productivity. Further, participants generally agreed that intervention programs are promising in terms of ameliorating the effects of sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the workplace. The positive social change implications stemming from this study include recommendations to local governments in Cote d'Ivoire to develop municipal ordinances that support the investigation and prosecution of workplace sexual harassment and individual organizations should design workplace policies to efficiently and effectively handle complaints of sexual harassment.

Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom (IPS) / Sexual harassment in the workplace continues to be experienced by many women around the world. Men may also be sexually harassed in the workplace by women or by other men. Given the pronounced attention accorded over the last few months to high ranking individuals within South Africa and the USA who have allegedly been involved in incidences of sexual harassment, the study is timely. The focus of sexual harassment studies within the workplace is furthermore important as it affects the employees, employers and the workplace as a whole. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the experiences and perceptions of sexual harassment of employees of an information technology company. Information technology has typically been a male dominated occupation, and prevailing traditional, paternalistic attitudes may adversely impact on women's choice and pursuit of a career in this field. However, South African legislation, promulgated to enhance the intake of women and marginalised groups, has sought to strengthen gender equality and, concomitantly, the participation of women in information technology. The current research was conducted by administering the Sexual Harassment Experience Questionnaire and Perception of Sexual Harassment Questionnaire to a sample of 131 employees. These questionnaires were distributed via email within one organisation and four regional branches of the same organisation.

This study examines the problem of operationally defining "hostile environment" sexual harassment, ruled a type of disparate treatment actionable under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by the United States Supreme Court on June 19, 1986. Although the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission defines a hostile environment as an "intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment," there is no consensus as to what is "offensive" behavior. An extensive review of the literature yielded various attempts to define and ascertain the magnitude of sexual harassment, but the fact that the actual percentages varied indicates that this is a difficult issue to measure. As perception by the victim is the key, this study surveyed 125 working women from all over the United States to determine their perceptions of behaviors that constitute sexual harassment. Discriminant analysis was then used to correctly classify 95% of the women according to their perceptions of having experienced sexual harassment. Using tests for proportions, three hypotheses were found significant. Women who have been sexually harassed are more likely to view sexual harassment as a major problem. Older men are more likely to have their behavior perceived as sexual harassment. In addition, women who have experienced acts such as staring, flirting, or touching in the workplace are more likely to perceive those acts as sexual harassment. The hypotheses deemed not statistically significant yielded interesting results. Younger women are not more likely to be harassed than older women. Neither are single or divorced women more likely to experience sexual harassment. All women, regardless of age, marital status, or geographic location, are vulnerable to sexual harassment. Of importance are which variables contributed the most to the women's perceptions of sexual harassment. None of the demographic variables was found significant, but the women perceived that they had been sexually harassed if sexual remarks, touching, sexual propositions, or staring were directed toward them in the workplace. Thus, these acts were perceived as constituting a hostile environment.

Thesis (LLM. (Labour Law)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / Sexual harassment remains an issue in the workplace as result of ineffective legislative and other measures that fail to recognise sexual harassment as a form of discrimination that is gender orientated. Gender inequality is credited as one of the contributors of sexual harassment, as more women than men suffer sexual harassment in the workplace. Moreover, sexual harassment has adverse effects on the individual who is on the receiving end of it, which are psychological in nature. This alone may lead to the abuse of substances as a form of coping mechanism, to arriving late to work or quitting which also affects productivity. In an attempt to confront the issue of sexual harassment, laws were created over the years, both at national and international level. Although some countries show efficiency in the creation of these laws by responding with urgency, some countries have had a more difficult time formulating appropriate and effective laws, with some countries having very little laws aimed at combatting sexual harassment in the workplace. At the same time workplace sexual harassment policies have proven to be an effective weapon against the gendered inequality that is sexual harassment if implemented effectively.