Why Women Report Sexual Harresment

Why Women don’t report sexual harassment?
This is a very complicated mechanism, with different factors both outside and
inside. And the fact, that someone reports it or not is very much t also depends on
the context, circumstances and work culture.
As the inside factors

 Team identity, he is one of us, even if he behaves in an innapropriate way -
there’s always the fear that the person you report will retaliate in some way.
Your harasser has already proven themselves the kind of person who crosses
personal boundaries. Will they spread rumors about you? Will they try and
get you fired? Will they threaten you? If other coworkers find out, will they
rush to your support or shun you?
 Fear from team member’s stigmatization, shame and victim
 Fear of retaliation (megtorlas)
 Or fear fear of retaliation by the abuser if he / she get off even if they do
report.
 The most important reason is that women are often made to feel responsible
for what happened to them – victim blaming is a common phenomenon as
has been seen even in the media even in heinous rape cases. A woman is
often told that it is her way of dressing, or her behavior towards the
colleague of the opposite sex is the real reason she was sexually harasse
 It is hard to prove, and takes long time, and many, many inconvenient talk,
act
 A third factor that may reduce the likelihood of reporting sexual harassment
is a highly male-dominated organization and/or highly masculine culture. In
very masculine work cultures, some men use the subjugation of women as a
way to relate to other men and prove their masculinity, while reinforcing
women’s lower status. At the same time, women who want to be part of the
high-status group may play along with sexual harassment because they do
not want to be further alienated from the high-status group (men). Women
may even start to adopt the same behaviors as men to fit in and be “one of
the guys.
Inside
 Self defense after trauma - you want to forget, not to remember. If they talk
about it, they need to remember, and face it again and again, ansd sometimes
they are not strong enough (Self defense mechanism is just automaticly turns
on after trauma, it is unconscious and it helps to heal or to be stronger until
we can handle things again)
 anxiety over a possible trial where they will have to relive the trauma of what
happened, or believing that their abuser will get off even if they do report.
 Shock
 They don’t feel safe enough (some previous experience, or they very much
depend on the abuser or his/her power)
 The truth is it’s not easy to come forward… Disclosing opens the floodgates of
questions such as, ‘What’s next? Do I report? Will I be believed?”
 The fear of that they will be questioned, nobody will believe them, even more
they will be blamed, like they provocated it somehow
 They have fear, that an issue like this could gave a stigma to them, which
could jeopardize thei career
 Young women are sometimes unable to come to terms with the trauma that
such incidents unleash, so they decide to simply pretend that the act in
question never took place.
 the more powerful the perpetrator of the offence, the more potent the chance
of a backlash!
 they did not report harassment against themselves or others because of fear
of retaliation by the harasser or organization.
What we can we
do to reduce fear around reporting sexual
harassment? There are a few ways organizations can be
proactive about encouraging people to speak up
 I would say, training and more training about:
o What is sexual harresment, signs, behaviours,
o Train employees in bystander training, so people are clear about what
to do if they directly observe or are informed about sexual
harassment. Bystander training (rather than typical sexual
harassment training which focuses on what to do if you are harassed)
focuses on what you should do if you see someone else being
harassed.This involves four steps:
1. make observers aware of the problem so they can identify it
when they see it,
2. teach observers that help should always be given,
3. increase accountability of the observer so they know that they
responsible to help,
4. inform observers of the process for intervening.
o It should be heard repeteadly that uninvited sexual advances have no
place at work
o Show by example what happens if someone is guilty
o Have a support group- availbale on each level, where you can talk
about it
o Develop clearer HR and reporting systems.
Individuals need clear HR systems through which
they can report observations and experiences of
sexual harassment.
o Processes to reduce risks of retaliation or gossip
also need to be in place to reduce the fear of
reporting. The Society for Human Resource
Management recommends
o (1) having clear definitions of what constitutes
harassment, (2) including examples of prohibited
conduct, (3) explaining how victims and viewers of
harassment should respond to and report
harassment, (4) outlining how HR should handle the
process, and (5) expressing what disciplinary
measures should be followed.
o Assess and improve your culture. Organizations can
send out regular confidential culture surveys to
keep their finger on the pulse of the company’s
culture. Ensuring that women have supportive
supervisors, work groups, and cultures can also
reduce risk of sexual harassment. Cultures that
reflect an intolerance for sexual harassment are
built when top management is committed to
reducing sexual harassment, when there are zero-
tolerance policies in place, when harassment-free
notifications are sent to applicants and new hires,
and when regular organizational assessments and
regular training explicitly address the issue.

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Why Women don’t report sexual harassment?

As the inside factors

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