The Effects of Sexual Harassment in The Workplace
Introduction
Employees play a significant role in the workplace, and they have rights to work in an
environment free from sexual harassment. The recent decades have various researches on sexual
harassment, and researchers have tried to explain how sexual harassment affects the individuals
(Carter, 2008). A sexual harassment problem can have harmful psychological and physical
effects on employees (Chan et al., 2008). The works analyzed below shows that sexual
harassment can be leading psychological conditions, because people who experience traumatic
events have higher probability of psychological symptoms (Willness et al., 2007). Impacts on
physical conditions have also been shown, individuals’ bodies respond with stronger
physiological reactions and over-reactions (Chan et al., 2008). Lastly, a case of Pakistani female
doctors and nurses indicates that workplace sexual harassment and posttraumatic stress
symptoms have positive correlation (Malik & Farooqi, 2011).
Theoretical Background
The psychological effects of sexual harassment in the workplace
Sexual harassment is defined as conduct of a sexual in nature, which is unwelcome or
unsolicited but repeat, which results in feelings of humiliation, embarrassment (Uggen &
Blackstone, 2004). Victims’ sexual harassment experiences bring themselves about short and
long term psychological consequences (Marican & Rahman, 2012). Psychological impacts are
including amount of stress-related symptoms, such as anger, anxiety, tiredness, fear, fright,
distrusted, frustration, aloneness, loss of confidence, powerlessness, difficult to deal with
