QUESTIONS???

●What is wrong with not wanting to be friends, hang out or participate in conversations you find uncomfortable?

●Why is a married colleague telling you that they find you attractive supposed to be a joke?

●Why does a colleague feel they can talk dirty to you because you're single?

●Why do you have to be the one to avoid someone because of their actions towards you and not the other way around?

●Why do the people in charge always want to brush it off because of your gender, age and what the other person stands to lose?

●And why the hell am I still asking these questions in 2021!!!

I was recently part of a sexual harassment in the workplace survey, and we found that the majority of people that experienced one form of sexual harassment or another did not report the incident through any formal work place channel. This was because they did not  know how to report it, and they didn't know if anything would be done about it. We also linked workplace sexual harassment with workplace performance and there was a noticeable decrease in the performance of anyone that had experienced harassment in the workplace.

No one is exempted, starting from small businesses of five people to big organizations and firms. We owe it to the people who work for and with us anti-sexual harassment policies and response procedures in the workplace. These policies should cover all forms of sexual harassment be it verbal, nonverbal or physical. Awareness and trainings on sexual harassment should also be a workplace culture.

 In the average job, we spend 9 hours or more daily apart from weekends at our workplaces, and it would really help if we felt  safe in a place we spend that much time.


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