Sexual Harassment at Work: A European Experience

• Author: Artan Çela
• Position: Albanian Power Corporation
• Pages: 80-91

ISSN 2410-3918 Academic Journal of Business, Administration, Law and Social Sciences Vol 1 No 1

Acces online at www.iipccl.org IIPCCL Publishing, Tirana-Albania March 2015

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Sexual Harassment at Work: A European Experience

Artan Çela

Albanian Power Corporation

Abstract

Unwelcome sexual advances, proposition or pressure for sexual activity, oensive irtations,

leering, whistling, making sexually suggestive gestures, sexual jokes, unwanted sexual looks,

unwanted letters, telephone call, or materials of a sexual nature, unwanted physical contact, actual

or attempting rape or sexual assault, this and more of this conduct if took place in the workplace

would amount to a sexual harassment. e sexual harassment at work has become a serious issue

of our time. It is an unjustied interference of integrity, dignity and well-being of workers, causing

problems from headaches to depression, loss of condence, panic attacks and perhaps suicide as

the only way appearing to be the sole possible relief from the unremitting and frightening behavior.

is article presents information concerning the sexual harassment at workplace, covering topics

such as, the denitions for sexual harassment in both international and national context, a short

history of sexual harassment, types of sexual harassment, eect of sexual harassment, measure to

combat and prevent sexual harassment. It oers a short overview in sexual harassment legislation of

some industrialized EU Member States and the legal remedies available against sexual harassment.

e main purpose of this article is to provide a better understanding and prevention concerning

the issue of sexual harassment in workplace.

Keywords: sexual harassment, sexual blackmail, rape, sexual assault, discrimination.

Introduction

e dierent forms of sexual harassment, from verbal to physical forms, make this concept

dicult to understand and recognize. For this reason, the objective of this article is to

provide information concerning the sexual harassment at workplace, denition of sexual

harassment, types of sexual harassment, eect of sexual harassment, measures to combat

and prevent sexual harassment. It oers a short overview of the legislation concerning

sexual harassment in some industrialized EU Member States, such as France, Germany,

Italy and United Kingdom which have been selected to provide a diversity of systems, in

legal terms. is article is divided into eight parts, including introduction and concluding

remarks.

History of Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is a new name describing an old problem. Generations of women have

suered from unwanted sexual attention at work and from oensive behavior based on

their gender. But it is only in the last 20 years that this conduct has been given a name

(ILO, 1992, 7). From a historical perspective, the phenomenon of sexual harassment at

workplace goes a long way back. It reects the subordinate position of women in the