Sexual harassment in the workforce

A total of 13% of women and 4% of men in the Czech Republic state that they have personal experience of sexual harassment in the workplace. In spite of this significant proportion, a number of public officials and even union representatives – whose role is to defend the interests of employees – believe that this social issue is not important and that it has been exaggerated, as the overall incidence level is small.

Context

Forms of [harassment in the workplace](/search/node/areas OR industrialrelations OR dictionary OR definitions OR harassmentintheworkplace?oldIndex), such as sexual harassment, bullying or humiliation, are part of the reality within the Czech working environment. Indeed, such anti-social types of behaviour in the workplace are becoming more likely, partly due to increased pressure for efficiency and performance productivity, and reduced job security.

Czech sexual harassment legislation has been fully harmonised with the valid European directives in this field by the amendment of the Labour Code no. 46/2004, which introduces a definition for sexual harassment (Section 1, paragraph 9 of the Labour Code). Nevertheless, the seriousness of the issue is still not recognised within Czech society. Opinions, even from public officials, can tend to make light of the problem, suggesting a refusal to accept that it affects the working lives of many women and also of many men (Curdová, 2004; Krížková et al, 2005).

Incidence of sexual harassment

A 2005 survey (in Czech, 971Kb PDF) by the Sociological Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Sociologický ústav Akademie ved Ceské republiky) – commissioned by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (Ministerstvo práce a sociálních vecí, MPSV) – reveals that one quarter of the population has either experienced sexual harassment personally or is aware of its existence in their workplace. Women reported experiences of sexual harassment more often than men, at a rate of 28% of all cases. Within this proportion, 13% of women stated that they had personal experience and 15% reported that the cases involved someone else. Some 4% of men have personal experience of sexual harassment in the workplace.

The representative survey included 1,025 respondents, and the study also comprised 15 semi-structured interviews with employer representatives, six in-depth interviews with victims of sexual harassment and two focus groups with trade union representatives.

Factors influencing the occurrence of sexual harassment appear to be mainly of an external nature. The results proved inconclusive regarding the influence of personal characteristics, such as age, education and marital status.

Women are exposed to sexual harassment more than average in sectors that are predominantly male, such as agriculture and manufacturing. In agriculture, 42% of women stated that they had either personal or indirect experience of sexual harassment, while, in manufacturing, the proportion of women affected in this manner was 30%. The percentage of women reporting such an experience was less in the services sector, at 27%.

In most cases, the perpetrators of sexual harassment can be found among colleagues at the same hierarchical level. However, in 25%–30% of the cases surveyed, the victims’ supervisors are responsible for the harassment, which is of some concern due to the vulnerability of the situation. In such a scenario, victims’ chances of defending themselves can be significantly reduced.

Table: Experience of sexual harassment (%)
Experience of sexual harassment (%)

Sex	Experience of sexual harassment			Total
	Yes, personally	Yes, it involved someone else	No, never
Men (absolute no.)	14	64	284	362
Men (%)	3.9	17.7	78.5	100
Women (absolute no.)	54	59	295	408
Women (%)	13.2	14.5	72.3	100
Total (absolute no.)	68	123	579	770
Total (%)	8.8	16	75.2	100

Source: Krížková et al, 2005

Tolerance for mild forms of sexual harassment

As shown by older and current sociology research, a certain tolerance of mild forms of sexual harassment is characteristic of Czech society. Examples include colleagues’ kisses at parties, vulgar jokes or comments about the appearance or clothing of female colleagues. Many employees do not consider this type of behaviour to be discriminatory or degrading.

This high tolerance level is underlined in the discrepancy between the records of the occurrences of the abovementioned types of behaviour and the percentage of the population reporting experience of sexual harassment. For example, about two thirds of the population have encountered jokes with sexual connotations or comments about their private lives during their careers in the workplace; and more than half of the working population have heard talk involving sexual innuendo (Krížková et al, 2005).

Research from 1997 indicates that only one sixth of respondents consider that telling rude jokes, kissing colleagues or comments about the clothing of colleagues represents a form of sexual harassment (Vlácil et al, 1997).

Fostering appropriate behaviour

As part of their support for an appropriate corporate culture, a number of companies already have implemented codes of ethics or standards pertaining to mutual relations between employees and relations between employers and employees. The 2005 study examined the ways in which organisations attempt to avoid degrading types of behaviour in the workplace or the possibilities for resolving such behaviour.

Figure: Evaluating measures for resolving interpersonal relations in the workplace (%)

Source: Krížková et al, 2005

The survey results indicate that a very small percentage of companies had people or unions in place that could effectively resolve interpersonal relations. Only 12.4% of respondents stated that their companies appointed somebody to resolve interpersonal relations. Moreover, these individuals only performed their function effectively in 3.6% of the cases surveyed. Just 7.9% of respondents could rely on the unions – as representatives of employee interests – to resolve issues of interpersonal relations in the workplace. The majority of companies (56%) maintained the rules for mutual interpersonal relations in the workplace through their organisational or employment code.

References and further information

Curdová, A., ‘Sexuální obtežování mýtu zbavené, aneb kdy už budeme normální?’, Britské listy, 19 January 2004, available online at: http://www.blisty.cz/2004/1/20/art16578.html

Krížková, A., Cermáková, M., Dudová, R., Maríková, H. and Uhdeová, Z., Obtežování žen a mužu a sexuální obtežování v ceském systému pracovních vztahu [Harassment of men and women and sexual harassment in the Czech labour relations system], Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, MPSV 01–113/04, 2005, available online at: http://www.mpsv.cz/files/clanky/1699/obtezovani.pdf

Vlácil, J. et al, Organisational culture in Czech industry, Codex Bohemia, Prague, 1997.

For further information at European level, see the EWCO topic report Violence, bullying and harassment in the workplace (TN0406TR01) or the Foundation report Preventing violence and harassment in the workplace.

Renata Vašková, Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs (VÚPSV)