About 91 per cent of cases of sexual harassment in workplaces faced by women were being perpetrated by their bosses and superiors, research by a civil rights organization, HEIR Women Development Initiative, revealed.
HEIR Women Development is a social enterprise borne out of the need to see young women take on more decision-making positions, and venture into leadership opportunities.
The organisation also said that while three in four; 74 per cent of the women have experienced online stalking, 68 per cent attest to receiving persistent emails, sexual invitations, with 81 per cent confirming that this sexual harassment had been rife.
These were the findings of “Career barriers and workplace sexual harassment against young women in Nigeria: Research validation meeting and extract on the Federal Character Territory”, carried out by HEIR WDI with support from Ford Foundation.
The report of the research which was signed by the Programme Officer of HEIR Women Development, Blessing Ejeh, was obtained by Journalists in Abuja on Friday.
According to the research, while 14 per cent of the respondents revealed that “they have been raped at workplaces”, only 33 per cent of organizations were concerned about protecting women’s rights even as 68 per cent lacked gender responsiveness in their organizations.
The report said, “Three in five women; 57 per cent, have experienced physical sexual harassment which respondents reported in form of unwelcomed touching, deliberate pinching among others. 14 per cent of the respondents revealed that they have been raped at work. The major perpetrators of sexual harassment at work are seen to be bosses or superior, 91 per cent reported.
“Also, three in four; 74 per cent of these women have experienced online stalking while 68 per cent attest to receiving persistent emails, invitations sexual nature with 81 per cent confirming that this sexual harassment is being experienced often.”
The CSO said 68 per cent of the respondents reported a lack of gender responsiveness in their organization because the Human Resources Department is often charged with the responsibility of drafting protective policies on sexual harassment.
“However, their goal is to protect the interest of bosses to the detriment of other staff”, the report revealed.
The research said, “Despite these scary statistics, just 49 per cent of the respondents consider their workspace to be unsafe, which is a clear indication of the low awareness among these women of what sexual harassment entails and its dangers.”
Ejeh also shed light on how sexual harassment affects career development.
She said, “Sexual harassment has constituted a major limiting factor to women’s career journey at workplaces and participation in leadership for decades now. Therefore, this germane project seeks to identify with evidential data, the career barriers confronting young women with a lens into sexual harassment menace.
Hence our theory of change is as follows- if young women are empowered with adequate tools to recognize and report sexual harassment at work, then organizations are encouraged to develop and ensure compliance with sexual harassment policies.
“Then, young women will have to be equipped to excel in their career and leadership aspirations. 51 per cent of the respondents reported that they have been sexually harassed at their workplace. 39 per cent of the respondents revealed that there were no systems, laws, policies to protect them at their workplaces while 35 per cent revealed that although “Therefore, it is believed that laws on sexual harassment are non-existence as this is clearly shown in the fact that the labour law made no provision on sexual harassment at workplaces.”
