Workplace Sexual Harassment as a Problem of Employee Relations

Abstract

Sexual harassment at work is an important aspect of employee relations that has become rampant since the beginning of capitalism even as doing research about it as a sensitive topic has not been easy and frequent. While the practice of lawsuits against the perpetrators of sexual harassment has taken off, bringing some relief to the victims in the West, what is awfully amiss in the developing world is the bringing of justice to most of the victims who labour in the formal as well as informal sector. In this paper, we take stock of research on this phenomenon in terms of its incidence, definition, forms, causes and solutions. In the process, the paper highlights some gaps in existing knowledge to be filled in through new research, especially in the Indian context.