By Petronella Sibeene
WINDHOEK
Sexual harassment at the workplace remains one form of gender-based violence that most people know little about in Namibia.
The Director of the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) Norman Tjombe said this during the first ever conference on gender-based violence in Namibia.
He described sexual harassment as unwanted sexual conduct in the workplace.
According to Tjombe, the conduct could be in a circumstance where the victim has made it clear that the behavior is unwelcome.
The conduct could be repeated requests for a date or sexual remarks about a person’s appearance.
Verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes sexual harassment when this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.
In many cases, the victim is likely to be someone subordinate to the perpetrator hence no reports of sexual harassment as most victims fear losing their jobs.
“This is an issue which is only beginning to come out into the open,” said Tjombe.
LAC recently handled a case where a female client was harassed by means of e-mails and SMSs from a male co-worker.
In another case, a manager repeatedly fondled a young female employee.
The concern, according to Tjombe, could be that many people may be experiencing this problem without knowing what it is and what possible action could be taken against it.
Harassment is explained in the Labour Act 6 of 1992, but a more specific provision on sexual harassment is in the Labour Bill 2007, which is still before parliament.
This will set out the responsibilities of the employers and conduct at workplaces.
“It all boils down to respect. There are men who believe that they are entitled to respect just because they were born male”.
“Some men are prepared to use force as a means of asserting social and sexual control over women”, he said.
Earlier this year, Member of Parliament Hage Geingob said that African men often cite culture “to show that they are superior to women” even in incidents where men are unwilling to own up to the responsibility of taking care of their families.
Tjombe stated, “Respect is not demanded, respect is earned”.
According to experts’ advice on how to deal with sexual harassment in the workplace, http://www.associatedcontent.com recommends that the victim starts by keeping a written journal of incidences.
This should include what happened, what was said to the victim, the date and time. Keep the journal in a safe place.
Victims are also urged to tell someone at work, especially the human resource department or the harraser’s boss.
If the boss is the owner and harraser, and there is no HR department, then make a formal complaint to the labour board or council. Above all do not keep what is happening to yourself.
If retaliated against, do not put up with it. Retaliation can be very subtle, it might be a one-on-one meeting where your boss or co-worker threatens you and/or your job, or you may find yourself with too little or too much work to do, to name a few examples.
If this happens, document it in your journal, and go back to whomever you spoke to the first time and report the retaliation.
Continue to do so for as long as it continues.
Don’t let up on the abuser, tell him/her to stop it immediately.
Don’t discontinue reporting, even if it appears that no one is listening to you, or even if they tell you to stop.
You have the legal right to report the retaliation and any further sexual harassment, and to work in an environment which is not hostile.