Sexual harassment ‘under-reported’

SEXUAL harassment at workplaces is one of the most rampant forms of abuse that has gone unreported, studies have shown.

Studies by different research organisations in Mutare show that most individuals who have suffered different forms of sexual harassment at work are unaware of the legal frameworks governing gender issues.

Presenting a report on sexual harassment at a gender council meeting held last week, a consultant lecturer at the Zimbabwe Open University, Dr Kuziwa Kutiwa, said it was worrying that most victims were unaware of the different dimensions of sexual harassment.

He said of the sampled population in Mutare Urban, it was found that 62,2 percent of the participants indicated they were unaware of the gender policies that governed them at the workplace.

“Fifty-six percent of the organisations had gender policies that governed their conduct and the remaining 43,3 percent did not,” he said.

Dr Kutiwa said there was a knowledge gap on the national gender policy and its requirements with most organisations going without a gender desk or gender policy.

Senior management were cited as the top perpetrators of sexual harassment.

Victims feared reporting such cases.

“Forty percent of the perpetrators of sexual harassment were those of senior management, 25 percent from middle management and 15 percent from junior management.

“The remaining 20 percent was split between perpetration from either a co-worker or a client,” said Dr Kutiwa.