Effects of sexual harassment at the workplace a Ugandan case study

Sexual harassment is an important public issue due to its negative impacts on the society.
This paper aims to examine the prevalence of sexual harassment perpetrated by employers on their employees in some companies and organizations identifies the characteristics associated with this phenomenon.
The data used in this paper comes from a cross-sectional survey on Sexual harassment at the workplace carried out in 2008. A total of 1,437 working class women aged between 25-55 from Kampala, Mukono and Entebbe districts were interviewed and associations between sexual harassment and the explanatory variables were assessed and analyzed.
Overall, about three in five women (58%) had experienced some form of sexual harassment by their employers.
Women who accepted to have sexual encounters with their bosses constituted 26% and these were less likely to be fired or demoted even if they were underperforming.
The study indicates that sexual harassment at work place against women in Uganda is wide spread. Programs should focus on education and women's empowerment to reduce sexual harassment and protect women's rights. Furthermore, sensitizing the male employers about the dangers of violating women’s right should be encouraged to minimize sexual advances and sexual harassment from employers.