Unwanted and unwelcome: sexual harassment in the Malaysian workplace

While sexual harassment in the workplace has been recognized as a serious misconduct in the West since the 1980s, it has only been recently acknowledged in the Asian region. Research in the Malaysian workplace revealed that 38 percent of women respondents had experienced one or more forms of harassm...

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Main Authors: Ng, Cecilia, Othman, Jamilah
Format: Article
Published: Taylor & Francis 2002
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/116497/
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author Ng, Cecilia
Othman, Jamilah
author_facet Ng, Cecilia
Othman, Jamilah
author_sort Ng, Cecilia
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description While sexual harassment in the workplace has been recognized as a serious misconduct in the West since the 1980s, it has only been recently acknowledged in the Asian region. Research in the Malaysian workplace revealed that 38 percent of women respondents had experienced one or more forms of harassment, with younger women in lower occu pational categories forming a significant proportion of the victims. It was also interesting to note that 32 percent of male respondents stated that they had experienced sexual harassment. Despite the existence of sexual harassment policies in the six pioneer companies studied, differential perceptions regarding the issue persist. Sexual harassment as issue and as process is highly contested with men noticing and rating less harassment than women. While women are forced to accommodate such behavior as part of the work culture, they are also resisting in various ways, including lodging formal reports. Sexual harassment reflects the unequal power relations between women and men in society with sexuality being used as a part of this control. Indeed, buttressed by religious ideology, the prob lematic of sexual harassment is utilized as a tool to control female sexuality, dressing, and behavior, especially of Muslim women. © 2002, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.
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spelling upm-1164972025-04-09T06:53:37Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/116497/ Unwanted and unwelcome: sexual harassment in the Malaysian workplace Ng, Cecilia Othman, Jamilah While sexual harassment in the workplace has been recognized as a serious misconduct in the West since the 1980s, it has only been recently acknowledged in the Asian region. Research in the Malaysian workplace revealed that 38 percent of women respondents had experienced one or more forms of harassment, with younger women in lower occu pational categories forming a significant proportion of the victims. It was also interesting to note that 32 percent of male respondents stated that they had experienced sexual harassment. Despite the existence of sexual harassment policies in the six pioneer companies studied, differential perceptions regarding the issue persist. Sexual harassment as issue and as process is highly contested with men noticing and rating less harassment than women. While women are forced to accommodate such behavior as part of the work culture, they are also resisting in various ways, including lodging formal reports. Sexual harassment reflects the unequal power relations between women and men in society with sexuality being used as a part of this control. Indeed, buttressed by religious ideology, the prob lematic of sexual harassment is utilized as a tool to control female sexuality, dressing, and behavior, especially of Muslim women. © 2002, Sage Publications. All rights reserved. Taylor & Francis 2002 Article PeerReviewed Ng, Cecilia and Othman, Jamilah (2002) Unwanted and unwelcome: sexual harassment in the Malaysian workplace. Gender Technology And Development, 6 (3). pp. 389-407. ISSN 0971-8524; eISSN: 0971-8524 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09718524.2002.11910056 10.1177/097185240200600304
spellingShingle Ng, Cecilia
Othman, Jamilah
Unwanted and unwelcome: sexual harassment in the Malaysian workplace
title Unwanted and unwelcome: sexual harassment in the Malaysian workplace
title_full Unwanted and unwelcome: sexual harassment in the Malaysian workplace
title_fullStr Unwanted and unwelcome: sexual harassment in the Malaysian workplace
title_full_unstemmed Unwanted and unwelcome: sexual harassment in the Malaysian workplace
title_short Unwanted and unwelcome: sexual harassment in the Malaysian workplace
title_sort unwanted and unwelcome: sexual harassment in the malaysian workplace
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/116497/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/116497/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/116497/