Free Essay on Sexual Harassment Manifesting in the Society

The manifestation of sexual harassment in society is overwhelming, affecting everyone, which has resulted in individuals and organizations developing strategies to ensure the end of it. In recent moments entailing public discourse, society seems highly willing to address and affirm the manifestation of various high-profile cases. Although the issue is propelled by movements, namely #MeToo, individuals need to put in more effort to ensure the workplace demonstrates a safe, equal, and inclusive place envisioned by many free of sexual harassment and assault.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The journey to attain a safe waking place for everyone requires the elimination of the often subtle and pervasive behaviors impacting individuals daily. My hope for the future is to work in an environment where I can grow, thrive, and learn being mentored by women and men and benefiting from the insight of engaged and experienced managers. When I reflect on society through the lens of professional maturity, there is an instance I can recall of unsettling and specific glances that I was not able to recognize or just too naïve to accept.

Reflecting on the seemingly innocuous and persistent offenses seen in society, I realized almost every individual experiences at least some weight of its potential. The manifestation of sexual harassment chips away from workplace integrity and replaces honesty with subterfuge. Additionally, it eliminates psychological safety with fear, anxiety, and confusion, which are not ideal for individuals to perform their duties effectively.

Distinct discussions on the strategies of preventing sexual harassment, inclusive workspace promotion, and honest affirmation of unconscious bias is a step towards eliminating the hostile workplace environment. Conclusively, empowering employees to identify hostile workplace symptoms develops an environment that addresses unconscious bias, and engaging leading professionals helps to learn on techniques for managers t deal with sexual harassment and create inclusive cultures.

Reasons for Sexual Harassment Happening in the Society

In most of the institutions, they have developed a culture of closing ranks by admitting nothing and directing all the blame to the victim. In this regard, some organizations develop the human resource department for the public image, but inwardly, they hate it. They perceive instances of sexual harassment as a matter that reduces the activities of the institution and consider it an unnecessary expense. Their reluctance of such organization to participate and cooperate in the effort to deal with sexual harassment results in decreased accountability for workplace sexual harassment hence a list of high-profile men accuses of sexual assault or harassment.

Furthermore, ineffective training regarding sexual assault and harassment exacerbate the issue even further. Conducting a one-time training is highly ineffective in attaining a goal of ensuring the workplace is secure and inclusive of all individuals. There are even individuals who experience harassment but refrain from filing a formal complaint to the responsible department resulting in augmenting the issue even further as the perpetrators do not face the appropriate punishment. Most of them fail to report the issue because the perpetrators are senior executives hence fear for their job.

Accordingly, individuals who are in low-ranking positions depending on the goodwill and approval of the superior for advancement, retention, and hiring are highly likely to be sexually harassed by their superiors. Being at the mercy of superiors creates direct economic cloud to the superior's sexual needs depriving the low-ranking employees independently and material security, making resistance to unreasonable pressures at work difficult. In this case, sexual harassment largely occurs since most victims occupy inferior job roles and positions; hence the sexual harassment occurrence aims at helping them keep their positions.

The #MeToo Movement

The #MeToo Movement has had a significant impact on the manner the society views problems associated with sexual assault and harassment. The movement spread the message of survivors and gave a sense of the degree of the issue. # MeToo's primary goal has always been on raising awareness of pernicious and prevalence influence of sexual violence. The conversation about the topic has increased in society, demonstrating the magnitude of how it has changed. The topic of sexual assault being taken seriously has allows states to create laws that ensure protection for employees and monetary compensation for survivors. Although the problem of misconduct, assault, and sexual harassment remains a systemic issue, the movement helped most Americans to try and solve it.

The banning of nondisclosure agreement covering sexual harassment allows individuals to tell their stories and avert instances of being affected by PTSD and gain the support and help of their family. The introduction of protection for more workers indicates how the issues have amplified and allowed the protection of independent contractors who are not categorized as employees by any company (North, 2019). The movement has helped the restaurant workers in their effort to eradicate minimum wage. The minimum wage makes cede harassment from clients for fear of losing their job.

Also, the survivors are getting financial restitution from all the harm and stress they faced after being assaulted by the perpetrators of sexual harassment. Finally, the movement has demonstrated to the whole world the manner misconduct, sexual assault, and harassment have spread widely. Individuals who never had to think about it have now seen the scale in which it has influenced, friend, parents, children, and co-workers.

References

North, A. (2019, October 4). 7 positive changes that have come from the #MeToo movement. Vox. https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/10/4/20852639/me-too-movement-sexual-harassment-law-2019