European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

WORKPLACE HARASSMENT AMONG WOMEN EMPLOYEES: A PILOT STUDY

Dr. Asha P. Shetty* and Nithyashree B. V.

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The number of workplace harassment claims filed during recent years has increased dramatically. It can take many forms and is known by many other names such as “workplace abuse” “workplace mistreatment” etc. Workplace harassment of any kind such as either emotional or physical has numerous negative consequences associated with it. Despite this, very little is known about the workplace harassment in organizations with regard to women. Moreover, the women employees hesitate to report if they experience the workplace harassment with the fear of transfer or dismissal from the work. The objective of this paper is to determine the workplace harassment among Women employees. Methods: Non experimental – cross sectional exploratory survey approach with quantitative design was adopted. Samples constitute female employees, 20-60 years of age working for minimum 6 hours in an institution selected by random sampling. Data was collected by using demographic tool and workplace harassment experience tool developed by the investigator which was validated and found to be reliable. The institutional Ethics committee approval is obtained and individual subject consent was also obtained. Result: Data collected from 69 female employees indicated that majority (45.2%) of them belonged to nuclear family; 47.9 % were unmarried; more than 50% of them had more than three years of work experience; 45.2% were on temporary employment; 50% were working in private sector;45% had professional education and were earning more than 38,600/- per month. Results indicated that 52.1% of the female employees had occasional harassment and 35.6% reported no harassment. Area wise analysis indicated that female employees expressed harassment in physical, psychological, work related, verbal and sexual areas. Conclusion: Based on the study finding it is concluded that workplace harassment is prevalent among female employees. Wide ranging types of harassment included physical, personal, psychological, work related and sexual as well. It was also evident from the female employees that “no harassment” doesn‟t indicate absence of workplace harassment rather the employees hesitate to report such experiences with fear of facing further consequences. Implications: Study has implications to develop strategies to strengthen the female workforce in institutions and to create awareness particularly among female employees among work place harassment and women empowerment.

Keywords: Women Harassment, Employees, workplace.