Employing a descriptive survey, this study assessed the nature, incidence, and consequence of the perceptions of selected academic women concerning their experiences with sexual harassment in the higher education work setting. The research identified those interactions which could be considered sexually harassing in the workplace, their dynamics, and the career effects of such experiences on the professional lives of selected women employed in a State University System. The sample of 500 women was chosen from women educators employed in the State University System of Florida during the 1979-80 academic year and listed on the Authorized Position File. / The mail questionnaire was constructed to address seven research objectives: (1) What interactions are perceived as sexual harassment by women in the nine Florida universities? (2) What is the incidence of sexual harassment of women in the nine Florida universities? (3) Is the relative organizational position of the initiator a factor in sexual harassment of women? (4) What differences, if any, regarding sexual harassment are found in the perceptions of women in the various types of professional positions? (5) Is there a relationship between the age of the recipient of sexual harassment and its occurence? (6) Is there a relationship between the marital status of the recipient of sexual harassment and its occurrence? (7) What are the career consequences of sexual harassment of the respondents? Are there positive career consequences? Are there negative consequences? Are there no consequences? / The analysis of the data, assisted by the use of a Chi Square test for research objective number four, was conducted through the examination of frequency distribution tabulations between the variables appropriate for each objective. Results indicated that all interactions listed on the questionnaire were considered sexually harassing by a majority of the women surveyed. Amongst the organizational groupings of the women sampled, no differences in perception were found regarding what constitutes sexual harassment. While a quarter of the respondents reported they had sometimes experienced the majority of the interactions in question, a majority of the respondents indicated never having experiences any of the fourteen listed interactions. Respondents reported that the initiators of sexual harassment which did occur were primarily their colleagues, followed closely by their superordinates. While some forms of sexual harassment appeared to be positively correlated with age, the data suggested that the majority of the interactions have occurred at all age levels. A women's marital status appeared to be related to the occurrence of sexually harassing interactions; such interactions occurred most frequently to single or divorced women and least to the widowed women surveyed. Results indicated that the majority of women queried had experienced neither highly positive, moderately positive, nor highly negative career consequences. However, moderately negative career consequences were reported by a moderate proportion of the respondents. Each respondent's view of the consequence of each interaction appeared to be positively related to that person's evaluation of the offensiveness or non-offensiveness of such interaction. / Based upon the analysis of the perceptions and observations, recommendations for future study include the following: (1) to examine the relationship between the perception of sexual harassment and the effects of potentially sexually harassing behavior; (2) to examine male perceptions regarding the behaviors listed by women in the study as being sexually harassing; (3) to examine the relationship between an individual's cultural background and that individual's perception of an interaction's offensiveness or non-offensiveness. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-10, Section: A, page: 4308. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74313 |
| Contributors | MYERS, CARMEN LORRAINE., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 168 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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