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There’s no denying that some women could use the protection of a stronger person—but so could some men.
—Katherine Dunn, author1
The Endangered Species Act protects helpless animals, child labor laws protect vulnerable youngsters, and sexual harassment laws and training are provided for whom? Although the training is purported to be for both men and women, most employees still think of sexual harassment as a women’s issue. Therefore, most would argue that sexual harassment training is predominantly provided for the protection of female employees. However, just like the endangered animals and the vulnerable youth, the suggestion that women need protection carries with it images of weak women who can’t fend for themselves. Could sexual harassment training inadvertently be reinforcing stereotypes of women as weak and in need of protection?
The EEOC recommends that all employers offer sexual harassment training to their employees, and in some states, state law mandates that training be provided. In particular, California legislation requires that all employers who employ fifty or more persons provide supervisors with two hours of training in the prevention of sexual harassment within six months of hire or promotion, and every two years thereafter. Maine has an even stricter law requiring those with fifteen or more employees to offer sexual harassment training. It is estimated that United States employers spend about $10 billion annually on employment-law training, and sexual harassment prevention is one of the main topics.2
The goal of workplace training in sexual harassment is clear: to reduce the likelihood that harassing behavior will occur in the workplace. However, if sexual harassment prevention efforts are reinforcing stereotypes of weak women, then perhaps more is not better.
Weak Women—Strong Men
The suggestion that sexual harassment training inadvertently implies female weakness is not new. Training videos used to teach employees about sexual harassment tend to be gender neutral, portraying men as victims of sexual harassment as often as women. Despite these efforts to appear gender neutral, we all know that the large majority of sexual harassment cases are still brought by women against men, and sexual harassment is still largely perceived as a women’s issue. Unfortunately, women may be perceived as needing this extra protection because they are unable to handle such issues on their own. Perceived weakness does not bode well for women’s career advancement or for their networking potential. If women are perceived as unable to handle an isolated comment about their appearance, how are they supposed to handle a role in the C-suite? And who wants to mentor or befriend a weak employee?
Although feminists have spoken out on this issue, their protests have been largely ignored. For example, author and social critic Camille Paglia summarized: “What troubles me about the ‘hostile workplace’ category of sexual harassment policy is that women are being returned to their old status of delicate flowers who must be protected from assault by male lechers. It is anti-feminist to ask for special treatment for women.”3
Author and journalist Katie Roiphe wrote, “In fact, the majority of women in the workplace are not tender creatures and are largely adept at dealing with all varieties of uncomfortable or hostile situations. Show me a smart, competent young professional woman who is utterly derailed by a verbal unwanted sexual advance or an inappropriate comment about her appearance, and I will show you a rare spotted owl.”4
Even the United States Ninth Circuit Court suggests that women live in constant fear of sexual assault from men. The court writes:
We realize that there is a broad range of viewpoints among women as a group, but we believe that many women share common concerns which men do not necessarily share. For example, because women are disproportionately victims of rape and sexual assault, women have a stronger incentive to be concerned with sexual behavior. Women who are victims of mild forms of sexual harassment may understandably worry whether a harasser’s conduct is merely a prelude to violent sexual assault. Men, who are rarely victims of sexual assault, may view sexual conduct in a vacuum without a full appreciation of the social setting or the underlying threat of violence that a woman may perceive.5
The court is asserting that women are concerned about mild forms of sexual harassment, because they are fearful of sexual assault from men. Sexual assault is inexcusable, and obviously should never be tolerated. In the horrible circumstances when it occurs, it’s a frightening and often life-changing event. However, I’m not sure that most women fear that mild forms of harassment will escalate to assault. And suggesting that women fear that everyone is a potential assaulter doesn’t exactly inspire cross-sex networking. I appreciate their concern, but the court does not exactly inspire men to team up with a woman on their next business venture.
Surprising Results from My Study
Despite the suggestion that sexual harassment prevention efforts increase the perception that women are weak or fragile, no one to date has conducted research on this issue. In order to assess how sexual harassment protection may impact perceptions of women, I conducted an exploratory experimental study of 111 university students. The goal of the study was to determine if watching a sexual harassment training video altered perceptions of women. Since the sex partition focuses on friendship, the study examined how viewing a sexual harassment training video altered perceptions of one’s closest female friend and closest male friend.
The study involved sixty-nine women and forty-two men enrolled at a state university who participated in the study for course credit. (Refer to Appendix A to review the details of the study methodology, the participant demographics, and statistical data analysis.) Due to the nature of the study, only students who had some work experience were included in the study.
In order to disguise the goal of the study, the participants were told they were completing a two-part study to both evaluate a training video and to assess their friendships. Unbeknownst to the participants, the computer program automatically divided them into one of two experimental conditions. Half of the participants watched a typical sexual harassment training video and half watched a fire-safety training video. If sexual harassment training did indeed impact perceptions of women, then those who watched the sexual harassment training video would be more likely to rate their female friends as weaker than their male friends. For those who watched the fire-safety video, we would expect no such effect.
The sample sexual harassment training video was chosen because it seemed liked a typical training tool and was produced by a popular sexual harassment training provider. Although the video was short (under ten minutes in length), it covered all the basics. The video defined the two types of sexual harassment (quid pro quo and hostile environment), described the punishments for harassers (from warnings to termination of employment), and provided suggestions for a harassment-free environment (e.g., treat everyone with respect). In the video, both men and women were depicted as harassers, and suggestions for those harassed included confronting the harasser and reporting the harasser to management. The video was accurate and informative, and it seemed like a reasonable training tool.
Once again, if sexual harassment training had a negative effect on perceptions of female strength, we’d expect that those who watched the sexual harassment training would be more likely to rate their closest female friends as weaker than their closest male friends. Indeed, that is exactly what the results indicated. Participants who watched the sexual harassment training video were more likely to rate their closest female friend as emotionally weaker than their closest male friend. It is interesting to note that this result did not differ between male and female participants. That is, both men and women were more likely to rate the closest female friend weaker after watching the sexual harassment video. It is also important to note that there was nothing unusual about this particular video that would encourage this result.
Repercussions for Women at Work
The repercussions of these results are substantial. First and foremost is the source of the problem: sexual harassment training. Recent legislation intended to help women in the workplace by requiring organizations to institute sexual harassment training may inadvertently be hindering women as well. The sexual harassment training that is being rolled out to employees in organizations throughout the country may be reinforcing stereotypes that women are weak.
Furthermore, the focus of the sex partition is on friendship and mentor relationships. The results of this study indicate that perceptions of close friends were impacted by the sexual harassment training video. Power is an important element of friendship, and in the workplace, powerful coworkers are more desirable friends.6 If women are perceived as weaker, they will have more difficulty developing valuable friendships with their male coworkers.
The perception of female weakness also has consequences for the development of mentor relationships. A senior executive doesn’t choose weak employees to mentor but instead prefers up-and-coming employees with potential in the organization. Those who are perceived as weak are less likely to establish valuable mentor relationships.
It is important to acknowledge this study was exploratory in nature. More research will be required to replicate these results and assess what aspects of the sexual harassment training resulted in the adjusted perceptions of women. Was it the mere mention of the sexual harassment issue or something specific related to the particular video I chose? Also this study was conducted with primarily young university undergraduates, but I believe the result would be magnified if older employees with more work experience were studied. Years of exposure to sexual harassment through training, the media, and personal experience may make more seasoned employees more likely to perceive sexual harassment as a women’s issue and therefore to perceive women as weak for needing such protection. Clearly, further research is required to assess the generalizability of this study to older employees.
The participants in this study were questioned about their friends within a few minutes of completing the sexual harassment training video, so the duration of the effects is not known. It isn’t clear whether questioning them about their friends an hour, a day, or a week after watching the video would produce the same results. Clearly, the longer the effects endure, the more detrimental for women in the workplace.
Kernel of Truth—Are Women Weaker Than Men?
The results of this study raise an interesting question regarding the strength of men and women with regard to dealing with sexual harassment. On average, men are physically stronger than women, but what about emotionally? Is there a kernel of truth to the notion that women are weaker than men when it comes to experiencing sexual harassment? If women are indeed weaker than men, then the same sexual harassment experiences would exert a greater impact on women than on men. However, research indicates that women do not report more severe outcomes from sexual harassment than their male counterparts.7
Specifically, the gender differences in the effects of harassment were examined in over eighty-nine thousand male and female employees.8 For both men and women, sexual harassment was associated with a plethora of negative outcomes, ranging from distress to poor health to negative job outcomes. However, men and women who were harassed did not differ in their experience of these negative outcomes. In other words, sexual harassment does not have more of an impact on women, but men who are harassed experience the same level of distress and negative job outcomes as women do. These findings should be included in sexual harassment training to dispel the myth that women need protection from sexual harassment because of some gender-related weakness.
The results of this study suggest that recent legislation intended to create a workplace more hospitable toward women may be contributing to gender inequity at work. Creating a less hostile work environment is clearly a noble goal, and I’m certainly not suggesting we abandon it. We just need to increase our awareness of the unintended consequences of sexual harassment training, so that they can be addressed. I have little doubt that sexual harassment training can evolve to provide the same information, but with fewer repercussions for women.
So far, we’ve covered how heightened awareness of sexual harassment in the workplace and fear of sexual harassment charges hinder cross-sex interactions at work. And the training we provide to prevent sexual harassment may change perceptions of women in the workplace. But are there still more aspects of this training that contribute to the segregation of the sexes at work? Lamentably, yes, there’s more.