Discrepancies between Women’s Reports and Men’s Awareness of Sexual Harassment: A Study among Representatives to the Union Parishads in Bangladesh

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of the study was to investigate diffrences between reports of victimisation from sexual harassment by females and awareness of it among their male colleagues.Methods: A questionnaire was completed by 821 representatives, 412 females, 409 males, from the Union Parishads,the rural local governance bodies of Bangladesh. Sexual harassment was measured with the Sexual Harassment Experience Questionnaire, measuring diffrent types of sexual harassment.Results: For all types of sexual harassment, reports by females on how often they were victimised were signifiantlyhigher than reports by males about how often they had observed female colleagues being harassed. Females 29−45years of age were signifiantly more victimised from all types of sexual harassment than those 51−61 years old. Males56−61 years of age scored higher than other males on observations of female victimisation from all types of sexualharassment. Females reported victimisation from verbal sexual harassment to be the most common type, followed bynonverbal harassment, and sexual harassment based on social manipulation; the least common type was victimisationfrom physical sexual harassment.Conclusion: Great discrepancies were found between reports by females of victimisation from sexual harassment inthe Union Parishads and awareness of it by their male colleagues