Sexual Harassment against Women at the Places of Work in China

Sexual Harassment against Women at the Places of Work in China
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Sexual Harassment against Women at the Places of Work in China
Introduction
Sexual harassment is one area where women rights are still compromised in a big way. While there have been some significant strides in the women right over the years, this is an area that still lags behind and one that has some very significant impacts on the victims. It is important to first understand the meaning of sexual harassment and the scope of the meaning (FindLaw 2017). This refers to any unwelcome sexual behavior that is directed at making the victim feel intimidated, offended or even humiliated. In some of the cases the intension could be geared towards flirting with someone. There are three main approaches that offenders will use to offend their victims which include written, verbal or physical in nature. The victim could subjected to either of the types of harassment in isolation and in some of the cases they are attacked with a combination of the same. There are a number elements that are covered in this scope which include harassment at work, at work related events, between work colleagues outside the place of work and between persons that share the same place of work (FindLaw 2017). Given this scope, there is a wide array of harassment incidences that take place and they are all unwelcome in way or the other. In China the issue of sexual harassment is still rampant and one that needs to be addressed. While the authorities still won’t admit to the rampant cases of sexual harassment, there has been evidence that they are quite many. As victims speak up and post online their ordeals, the issue is gaining the attention that is deserves for the authorities to act.
Thesis statement: China struggles with systemic sexual harassment against women at the work places, however there is a revolution brewing in on the social media front.
Sexual Offenses
The scope of sexual harassment, is quite wide, however there are those incidences that stand out and tend to be quite common. It is not simply limited to the inappropriate advances at the place of work, but rather includes any physical, verbal or even written acts that carry a sexual tone and one that creates a hostile working environment. It is a common practice for staff members to share sexual explicit content especially where they want to entice their victims. These include, images, videos and messages that are sexually explicit (Doyle 2017). Sending suggestive emails, notes and letters is also considered one of the ways that workers are harassed sexually at the place of work. In some of the other incidences, there may displays that are sexually offensive to one gender or the other. This creates a hostile environment where the gender in question feel intimidated and disrespected. It is also common for workers to make lewd jokes and even share sexual anecdotes that are offensive to the victims. These are common as people try to make jokes in the name of entertaining others at the office. The victims when attacked severally, are offended. Sometimes they will take the open abusive approach with a view to intimidate the victims. Making sexual gestures is also considered offensive and intimidating, which is also associated with staring in a sexual manner or even whistling. Some offenders will take their offense a step further and make sexual comments about the victims clothing, body parts, appearance of their behavior (Doyle 2017). In some of the incidences, others will also inappropriately touch their victims, pat, rub, pinch or even brush with intent against their victims. This is quite offensive and leaves the victims with emotional scars of the incidences. In more brazen attempts, offenders will directly ask for sexual favors or sexual history and even sexual orientation. This can then be extended to making offensive comments about the sexual history, orientation or even the gender identity of the victim in question (Doyle 2017).
Extended Scope of Sexual Harassment
It is important to note that, sexual harassment is not limited to one category of workers. Whether the advances are made by the gateman or the manager, this is still considered offensive and inappropriate. At the same time, there is a category that is not as common but one that takes place more often than not, despite the fact that most of the victims do not have the courage to report; sexual harassment perpetrated by the clients (Doyle 2017). Most of the companies will not punish these type of offenders relative to the fact that, they do not want to discourage the customers from coming to the premises for business. As such, even where victims are brave enough to report, most of the cases are trivialized and even the employees threatened with termination of their employment. This deals a big blow on the victims as they are intimidated and their performance is likely to suffer as a result.
China’s Sexual Harassment Problem
The irony of sexual revolution in China is that, the country is trying to hide behind closed doors, while the women suffer in the numbers under the intimidation tactics that are now brazen (Ebrahimian 2017). Offenders understand that the legal and international environment are quite these issues and as such have the confidence to carryout not just sexual overtone harassment but actual rape. In the case below a bank manager is seen to intimidate a coworker forcing them to have sexual intimacy with her. They are incessant enough they threaten the victim on messages (China Labour Bulletin 2017).
‘Last month, a China Minsheng Bank (CMBC) manager was reportedly fired when his six month sexual harassment of a female subordinate was revealed by the victim online, reports the Beijing Youth Daily. The manager, a Beijing-based deputy department head surnamed Guan, invited his co-worker, Wang Qi (pseudonym) to a hotel room, threatening to fire her if she refused to comply. For six months, Wang refused his repeated advances. Undeterred, Guan began threatening Wang, announcing that the bank would soon be determining which workers to layoff. “There are other options” said Guan, “...it depends on what you decide to do.” Wang’s decision was damning – in December, she quit her job and posted screenshots of the incriminating messages in a 60-member internal WeChat group. When the posts were made public, netizens nationwide expressed outrage. Faced with mounting pressure, the initially-reluctant Beijing branch had no choice but to announce in mid-December that it had fired the male manager and asked him to make an apology. The bank said it had also reached out to Wang offering support.’ (China Labour Bulletin 2017)
In the context, the manager is making sexual demands which translates to sexual harassment at the place of work. What is more intimidating is the fact that, he is the superior. This is one of the characteristics of the sexual harassment incidences at the place of work. The victims will always be persons that are lower in rank, such that their offenders use their rank and authority to create a hostile environment and intimidate them (China Labour Bulletin 2017). In this case, the victim is threatened with termination her employment. This is a common tactic and in most of the cases, the victims do not have an option but to comply as they have financial challenges and thus cannot risk losing their jobs. Even the response from the bank is a clear indication of the underlying problem. There is a systemic failure to handle the situation with the seriousness it deserves. However the cost of openly opposing the sexual harassment is quite high. Victims stand the chance of being violated, losing their jobs, public records of their humiliation, material damage from the incidence, and more important the emotional burden associated with incidence.
Every other day, there are more than 330 million women that go to work in China (China Labour Bulletin 2017). According to a report that was done in the year 2009, by the city university in Hong Kong, more than 80% of the women who are part of the working class in China have been harassed sexually at one point or the other in the career. This is a very big number considering that only 20% of the women that are working in China have not been sexually harassed (China Labour Bulletin 2017). It is also important to note that sexual harassment is a gender based violence in the work place and this is quite common in the low income jobs and in the industries that are poorly regulated. In areas such as retail and domestic work, these...