Sexual overtures, comments or jokes ordinarily do not constitute sexual harassment; however, when the circumstances are egregious and unwelcome, it does, women activists noted.
The non-governmental Awakening Foundation (
With sponsorship from corporations, the organization has printed over 50,000 copies of a guide on how to "terminate" sexual harassment in work places.
From December, copies of the guides will be available for free at any 7-Eleven convenience store. The guide provides overall information about the definition and types of sexual harassment.
By identifying forms and examples of sexual harassment, the foundation attempts to encourage the creation of a harassment-free working environment.
Su Chien-ling (
In regard to sexual harassment in the workplace, Su said there are often cases where "subjects of sexual harassment do not know how to respond, or they are simply afraid that unless they submit to such behavior it will affect their employment, promotion, chances for a raise, or performance appraisals."
There are also cases, she added, where unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other oral, written, or physical behavior of a sexual nature unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.
"We want to encourage anyone encountering such harassment to initiate a complaint because sexual harassment it not only demeaning and degrading, but it's illegal. It affects an individual's self-esteem, and can have a negative impact on an individual's work. Fighting against sexual harassment is fighting for your own rights," Su said.
Although sometimes complaints of sexual harassment in the workplace are heard, only a few of them have gone as far as to take legal action. Among them is a landmark case of a hostile working environment, where the complainant was awarded compensation of NT$200,000 for verbal harassment from her colleague.
In this case, the charged man and the complainant were both staff of the Judicial Yuan. In May 1996, the charged party, who was notorious for making abusive jokes or comments about women, was challenged by the complainant as he was again making harassing remarks.
"What's the big deal about saying obscene stuff? You wouldn't have given birth to a baby if you weren't obscene, would you?" the man said to the complainant who has just given birth to a baby at the time.
Since the charged party had no remorse over his conduct then or after, the complainant decided to take legal action against him.
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