NAMNA ZA UKANDAMIZAJI KIJINSIA DUNIANI

Kutoka kwa Vicki Schultz, RECONCEPTUALIZING SEXUAL HARASSMENT:

kama ilivyonukuliwa kutoka ukurasa wa 312 wa Robin D. Barnes, NATURE AND SCOPE OF INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS: EMERGING DEBATES IN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW (2008), Carolina Academic Press, USA.

A core element of [sexual] harassment is conduct having the aim or effect of undermining [women's] work competence. Sometimes this conduct assumes a blatant form. Supervisors or coworkers openly question a woman's right to hold the job at all: They tell her she is not cut out for the work, inform hr that she should be at home with her children, or greet her with a "Men only" sign or equally graphic announcement that she is unwelcome.

More typically, the men verbally demean a woman's competence or ability to do the job, the content of the denigration varying with the type of work. Sometimes, it takes the form of belittling a woman's physical prowess, as in firefighting and corrections. Sometimes it takes the form of disparaging her technicl competence, as in the trades, sciences, or medicine. Sometimes, it takes the form of denigrating her intellectual achievement, as i the academy.

Sometimes, it takes the form of questioning her capacity for adequate aggressiveness, as in police work or sales. Sometimes, it takes the form of chracterizing her as overly aggressive or abrasive, as in law, management, or other elite professions. Sometimes, it takes the form of simply pronoucing her generally incompetent or unproductive. And, all too often, it takes the form of calling her dumb, stupic, or worthless: "You're a woman, what do you know?"

Perhaps even more dangerous than such verbal denisgration of women's competence, men can take actions that convert those statements into self-fulfilling prophesies...There are diverse methods of subverting a woman's perceived or actual competence; the form of the conduct again varies with the occupational setting, such as stealing a policewoman's case files, informing a lab worker that faulty equipment is sound, falsifying medical records to make it appear as though a female surgery resident made an error, or simply assigning her tasks that are impossible to accomplish.

Sometimes, it takes the form of denying a woman addequate training, assignments, or other opportnities to learn a job fully, refusing to mentor her, or ostracizing her from the informal networks through which crucial job skills are passed on. Sometimes, it takes the form of evaluating a woman's performance by sexist and differential standards, or requiring her to perform service-oriented tasks that are outside her job description, such as cleaning, serving coffee, or providing secretarial support.

Sometimes, it takes the form of denying a woman the privileges and perks needed to succeed on the job, as, for example, withholding from saleswomen or managers the right to deal with clients or the use of a company car, credit card, or office. Sometimes it takes the form of assigning a woman duties below her skill level or extending her forms of "help" that signal she is incompetent to perform the simplest of tasks. Sometimes, it takes the form of gender-neutral acts of physical assault, verbal taunts, or other hazing in order to demoralize a woman psychologically or to threaten or intimidate her physically. And, far too frequently it even takes the form of discrditing her mental stability or sanity.