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Isabel Soto Mayedo, special for Trabajadores Newspaper
Sexual harassment is a typical problem in workplaces or atmospheres where objecting or rejecting could bring negative consequences. It affects almost half of the Central Americans and Caribbean women.
The Women Extended Commission from Latin America and the Caribbean asserts that hundreds of females in the region are under hard test for their dignity before or after they are hired.
Like in the film North Country– inspired on the life of Lois Jenson and the abuses against women in the iron mines from Eveleth Taconite Co., in Minnesota, United States (U.S.)- the multinationals exam to detect possible pregnant women and force them to drink birth control pills.
Cases of sexual harassment are getting worse because a great part of the victims are not aware of that, the International Center for the Development of Knowledge in the Training of Professionals (OIT/Cinterfor) says. This is either for males or females in social and economic life which at the same time affects the situation of the women in the labor market.
Most of the time women lack of power, they are in a more vulnerable situation and insecure. They lack for self confidence, or they were educated to suffer in silence. But the most threatened are the potential competitors in relation to leadership positions.
Impotence, humiliation, anxiety, depression, anger, fatigue and physical illnesses are some of the damages suffered by those under these ways of illegal discrimination, the Labor International Organization (OIT) says.
We have heard more about sexual harassments since 1974 when academicians from Cornell University in the US distinguished as so, the tact (medical examination) unwanted among the partners and even the lascivious comments or the sexual superiority, the sexual jokes and favors to have status.
One of the most notorious ways of sexual harassment is the one called quid pro quo when the female employees are forced to choose between accepting sexual demands or lose the benefits that correspond to them for their job. As it can be only dome by those that have the power to give or take away a gratification from the job, this is an abuse of authority.
The enterprises notice the consequences of this practice: tension, insufficient collaboration and team work, the low performance, the absenteeism and the decrease in productivity are in detriment of their incomes.
Sexual harassment can be the hidden reason that valuable professionals abandon or lose their jobs, despite their good performance. And if the enterprise accepts a tolerance atmosphere in this matter, its image will be damaged due to the possible public complaints on its situation.
These attitudes create an intimidating, hostile or humiliating working atmosphere for those who receive them, and although they are recognized worldwide, few times are punished as they should be. Directives turn blind with the pretext that the victims are the responsible to put an end to those practices. That is why the analysis of these unacceptable behaviors are so exceptional whose repercussion are very harmful, even when they harassment comes from the superior.
So far, there is no agreement linked about this topic. However, the OIT and the UN admit it has to consider it as sexual discrimination, while for society, such conducts prevent equality, they naturalize sexual violence and they hamper productivity and the development of the enterprises.
