IT HAS been announced that Government proposes to introduce legislation prohibiting sexual harassment in the workplace, legislation which will define the circumstances under which unwanted sexual advances will be an offence subject to appropriate penalties. Such legislation has long been in effect in other countries and is overdue in Jamaica.
In drafting the legislation, however, government should be careful to avoid some of the extremes which have plagued the American approach to the problem. Healthy and long-lasting romantic relationships can develop in an office environment. What is far too frequent in Jamaica is the male 'macho' assumption that sexual favours are a right.
Often the victims of such crude behaviour are afraid to report it for fear of repercussions from the male mafia network which often closes ranks to protect the predator.
The proposed legislation should offer protection to complaining females by obliging those in authority to set out written guidelines for acceptable male/female interaction in the workplace and correct reporting procedures for dealing with any breaches of it. Only then will secretaries as well as all female employees be able to work with their male counterparts in an atmosphere of mutual respect.
Such respect is typical of the annual recognition celebrated in Professional Secretaries Week observed between April 20 and 26. With the general decline in the reading and calculating skills of graduates, it is getting ever more difficult to recruit good secretaries and in despair many executives have tried to substitute computers for them.
In the case of female secretaries, still the dominant gender in the profession, the relationship can often cross the line into a too close personal intimacy with a male boss. This can and does happen across the entire spectrum of employees in a business and in too many instances males in authority exert pressure on female subordinates for sexual favours which are often granted for fear of recrimination.
The impending legislation should serve to discourage such unpleasantness at the workplace.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
