International Perspectives
Seven of the 23 industrialized countries surveyed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in 1992 have specific laws on sexual harassment: Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden and the United States. Other industrialized countries cover sexual harassment under laws on wrongful dismissal, tort law, or criminal law.
There are four types of laws that can apply to sexual harassment in the workplace: equal employment opportunity, labor, tort, and criminal.
- Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States have equal employment opportunity laws.
- Nearly all of the industrialized countries surveyed by the ILO have labor laws covering quid pro quo sexual harassment as "constructive discharge" [the employee was forced to quit to escape the offensive behavior] or "wrongful termination" [the employee was fired for refusing to submit to unfair labor practices].
- A tort is a legal wrong for which the court can provide a remedy, usually monetary damages. Tort law has been applied to sexual harassment in Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
- France is the only country that has passed a criminal law related to sexual harassment, although some criminal law in other countries may apply to extreme cases of sexual harassment such as assault or indecent behavior.
Three international groups have addressed sexual harassment: the European Communities, the United Nations, and the International Labour Organisation.
- The European Communities have adopted resolutions and written reports on sexual harassment.
- Information about the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women can be found here
- The ILO's mandate on gender equality is available here.
Susan Webb's Shockwaves, The Global Impact of Sexual Harassment (MasterMedia, Ltd. 1994) provides specific information about sexual harassment for these countries: Australia Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China and Taiwan, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Botswana
Sexual exploitation and harassment is a problem, with men in positions of authority, including teachers, supervisors, and older male relatives, pressuring women to provide sexual favors. Women legally enjoy the same civil rights as men; however, in practice discrimination persists. A number of traditional laws enforced by tribal structures and customary courts restrict women's property rights and economic opportunities. A woman married under traditional law or in "common property" is held to be a legal minor, requiring her husband's consent to buy or sell property, apply for credit, and enter into legally binding contracts. Under a law enacted in 1996, women married under an intermediate system, referred to as "in community of property," are permitted to own immovable property in their own names; however, their husbands still retain considerable control over jointly-held assets of the marriage. Well-trained urban women enjoy growing entry level access to the white-collar job market, but the number of opportunities decreases sharply as they rise in seniority. Discrimination against women is most acute in rural areas where women engaged primarily in subsistence agriculture have weak property rights.
A number of women's organizations have emerged to promote the status of women. The Government has entered into a dialog with many of these groups. While some women's rights groups reportedly felt that the Government has been slow to respond concretely to their concerns, women's NGO's state that they are encouraged by the direction of change and by the increasingly collaborative relationship with government authorities. Major women's NGO's include the Emang Basadi Women's Association, which promotes the social, economic and legal status of women; the Metlhaetsile Women's Information Centre, which provides legal assistance to poor women; and the Botswana Council of Women.
Bulgaria
Sex Discrimination And Sexual Harassment In The Workplace In Bulgaria, March 1999
Sex discrimination and sexual harassment in employment are serious and pervasive problems for women in Bulgaria. Women suffer from discrimination in every phase of the employment process: in the recruitment and hiring process, in the terms and conditions of women's employment, and by harassment in the workplace. A woman's fundamental right to employment opportunities as well as to just and favorable working conditions are not protected at any phase of the legal process. Even if they could afford an attorney, there is currently no private right of action for women who are victims of sexual harassment. Trade unions do not take seriously their obligation to protect women from sexual harassment or unequal treatment in employment.
Canada
Information about Canada's law on sexual harassment is available here. The law defines sexual harassment as "as any conduct, comment, gesture, or contact of a sexual nature that is likely to cause offence or humiliation to any employee or that might, on reasonable grounds, be perceived by that employee as placing a condition of a sexual nature on employment or on any opportunity for training or promotion."
China
A member of China's Parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), has proposed that a law be passed to penalize sexual harassment, but some experts say a few important steps should be taken before such legislation is passed. Even the Chinese phrase for sexual harassment, 'xing saorao', is relatively new, reflecting the tendency in this country for taboo subjects to go without precise verbal description because they are not supposed to be talked about. But as Chinese women shed their cadre uniforms and increasingly work in private sector enterprises, they find themselves having to deal with uninvited sexual attention from
colleagues and bosses alike.
Czechoslovakia
A study has found that 45% of Czech women had been sexually harassed in the workplace, yet the real numbers are probably higher. The Czech term for sexual harassment, "sexualni haraseni," implies a tacit understanding that whoever complains about harassment is making an unnecessary fuss. Sexual harassment is a widespread problem in post-Communist Europe, yet legal protection for victims has come haltingly. In the workplace, women may complain and even sue over sexual harassment. But even if they win, they are likely to lose their jobs. Part of the problem is the perception of sexual harassment as a Western phenomenon. One female worker interviewed laughed off office flirtation, saying unwanted advances can be corrected with a slap in the face. Still, momentum is slowly building toward passing laws to fight sexual harassment, driven by countries' attempts to meet the requirements for entering the European Union.
France
Caroline Goette has written an article on sexual harassment in France. France is the only nation in which sexual harassment has been categorized as a criminal offense.
India
The Supreme Court has enlarged the definition of sexual harassment in the workplace beyond physical contact to include "the request of sexual favors and other verbal and physical conduct with sexual overtones, whether directly or by implication." However, Indian women are still quitting jobs rather than fighting unwelcome advances from their male bosses. There is a need for greater awareness of the problem given that more women were entering the workforce in a background of general reluctance to approach the courts for justice because of delays and expense. Women in particular fear approaching the courts even for serious sexual crimes such as rapes because of the abysmally low record of convictions and because of damaging publicity.
Indonesia
Geger Foundation, a non-government organization (NGO) that focuses on empowering women workers, reports that it has been receiving numerous reports of women factory workers being harassed by the managers. The abuses range from verbal, to physical, to sexual. But the problem is really much larger, because many women choose to suffer in silence, thereby exacerbating the situation. Indeed, official information on the reported abuses is difficult to obtain because the women who have been victimized rarely go to the police and file a formal complaint.
Israel
Sexual harassment is beginning to be taken seriously in Israel, as evidenced by recent charges of sexual harassment brought against a high ranking politician. This event is an important change from the days when sexual harassment was taken for granted. In contrast to the US definition of sexual harassment as an issue of equality, the Israeli definition is based on the conccept of respect.
Japan
An increasing number of women are taking men to court for sexual discrimination in the workplace and claiming victorious lawsuits. Japan's Equal Employment Opportunity Law was revised in April to include a section covering sexual harassment and discrimination.
Hisami Naka was awarded 30 million yen (about $280,370 U.S.) by a judge who upheld her claim that the company she worked for failed to treat her equally with her male colleagues. The governor of Osaka was ordered to pay $107,000 to a university student. A 48-year-old piano teacher was found guilty of sexually abusing a female student for more than a decade and ordered to pay nine million yen ($84,100) in damages.
Korea
The Act on the Prohibition of Gender Discrimination and Redemption puts the Presidential Commission on Women's Affairs directly in charge of the task of preventing gender discrimination. The Presidential Commission on Women's Affairs can advise public agencies to take measures to redress gender discrimination, such as sexual harassment, and when deemed necessary, civil servants can be dispatched from government agencies. According to the advice of the Working Committee, the violators who obstruct the measures against discrimination are subject to two years or less in prison or to a fine of US $8,130 or less.
The act considers sexual harassment as a type of gender discrimination, which is defined as "the employees, employer, or workers in work, employment, and other relations making a woman feel sexually humiliated or offended because of sexual words and behaviors by abusing their status or in relation to their tasks, or making women disadvantaged in employment because of non-response to sexual speech and behavior and other demands."
Malaysia
A women's group has launched a nationwide signature campaign to tighten Malaysia's laws against sexual harassment in the workplace, which it describes as a pervasive problem. Until new legislation is passed, the Penang-based Women's Crisis Center wants employers to adopt a code of conduct that includes prohibitions against sexual harassment, a measure supported by the government.
The state-drafted Code of Practice on the Prevention and Eradication of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace provides guidelines for employers to set up in-house mechanisms to punish sexual harassment on the job. Employers are being encouraged to voluntarily adopt the code, which has no legal force. As of March, only 50 firms, the majority of them factories, had reportedly adopted the code, prompting women's groups to campaign for stricter laws on the issue. The code lists specific acts that are construed as sexual harassment, such as leering, lewd jokes, crude sounds and gestures, and flirting.
Jennie M. McCarthy has written an article entitled "Landmark Decision On Sexual Harassment For Malaysia".
Pakistan
According to the Islamabad-based Progressive Women's Association, every second woman in Pakistan is a victim of direct or indirect forms of mental or physical violence. The most vulnerable are those who work in the informal sector, like domestic and brick-kiln workers. Usually serious crimes against women are not reported by the women themselves, or by family members, for fear of retaliation, the blight of social stigma, and the uncooperative attitude of officials and law enforcers. A media study by the independent HRCP in Punjab province said 242 cases of crimes against women were reported in the newspapers and magazines. Of these 113 were attempted rape incidents, and 77 stripping and assault of women in public. However only fewer than half of the cases were registered with the police, and in only 23 of those cases were the accused taken into police custody.
The government's National Plan of Action (NPA), a follow-up to the 1995 Beijing summit prepared in consultation with women's groups and rights organizations, admits to widespread sexual violence against women in the country, saying it is rooted in patriarchal system of male domination and female subordination.
Thailand
After discovering that pickpockets were disproportionately targeting women on public transport, the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) began operating the Lady Buses, which its director told local reporters "would free women from sexual harassment and pickpocketing on buses." Since their launch, most Lady Buses have been standing-room only, according to the BMTA's director.
According to the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNDFW), about 68 percent of Thai women are in the workforce, one of the highest figures in Asia. A number of nongovernmental organizations devoted to women's rights have sprung up in Bangkok since Thailand implemented its 1997 "People's Constitution," a document that accorded greater freedom to civil society.
Several Thai feminists have welcomed the buses, saying that they show the BMTA's concern for women and demonstrate that females are being recognized as equals in Thai society. But some activists claim that the Lady Buses are merely cosmetic changes, obscuring the reality that Thailand remains one of the more chauvinistic societies in the region.
Zimbabwe
A report released by the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture said that sexual harassment and abuse of female pupils and students in Zimbabwean school institutions is one of the reasons for girls dropping out of the education system. "Not only are females harassed by male students, but also by teachers. This takes the form of verbal harassment, teasing, derision and other behavior aimed at reducing and embarrassing girls," the report said.
The Girl Child Network was formed last year with the goal of sensitizing the general public on the need to treat girls equally from the time they are born. The network sees the development of women leaders as a crucial step towards influencing gender-friendly policies at the political level. It is trying to achieve the goal by nurturing confidence and interest in leadership in the girls at a young age. The network has also identified early marriages as an area that requires urgent attention.
*If you would like to share information about international perspectives on sexual harassment, please contact njw@psu.edu.
