Mixed Strategy Nash Equilibrium #MeToo Movement - Essay Sample

Sexual misconduct in the workplace refers to any unwelcome sexual behavior committed by force, manipulation, coercion, intimidation, or the victim's consent. It includes different actions, such as harassment, assault, voyeurism, and violence (Johnson, 2019). Sex misconduct has been increasing in many diverse workplaces, and the victims are too reluctant to report. Different theories can be applied to explain why victims are unwilling to report. Game theory is one of the models used to describe this reluctance.

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The game theory refers to a theoretical framework used to conceive different social situations in competing players (Cheng, 2020). It involves analyzing the players' behavior and interactions to evaluate strategic decision-making in rational persons. In sexual misconduct, the players are men and women involved in the offense. In most cases of sexual misconduct, women choose not to report the crime. This is because when a man decides to harass, and the lady fails to reveal, the latter receives the negative payoff due to the event that occurred to her. The man gets a positive payoff due to the pleasure he gets from harassing a woman. Therefore, men will always harass women since it is upon ladies to prove the accusation. When a woman decides to report the incidents, the man possesses two options. The man can either fight or admit the charge. The game will end if he admits and continues if he disagrees. If the man fails, the woman has to prove the accusation. The man is indifferent in either accepting or fighting the allegations if he harasses the lady (Cheng, 2020). If the lady reports and the man did not harass her, the latter would decide to fight the allegations. Based on the above explanation, women will be reluctant to report sexual misconduct because, in all cases, they have to prove their allegation no matter what happened. Harassing will dominate for men because they know women will decide not to report more than reporting.

There are different ways that can be applied to overcome sexual misconduct under-reporting. Developing clear reporting procedures in workplaces will help many victims feel when reporting the behaviors that make them uncomfortable (Johnson, 2019). Having a dedicated staff to deal with sexual harassment allegations will allow victims to report. Because the victim does not guess where to report, they will go directly to the member mandated to deal with sexual misconduct allegations. Lastly, raising awareness to members to report any allegation and ensuring those who are found guilty of sexual misconduct will be dealt with accordingly.

References

Johnson, J. (2019). An Epidemic of Workplace Sexual Misconduct: The Birth of the Weinstein Clause in Merger and Acquisition Agreements. Tex. Tech L. Rev., 52, 377. https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/text52&section=25

Cheng, I. H., & Hsiaw, A. (2020). Reporting sexual misconduct in the# MeToo era. Available at SSRN 3506936. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3536403