Abstract
Many women around the world continue to face workplace sexual harassment. Men can be sexually harassed at work by both women and other men. The study is pertinent, given the recent focus on high-ranking persons in South Africa who are accused of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment research in the workplace is especially relevant since it impacts employees, employers, and the workplace.
The most important aspects of an individual's capacity to secure and retain a job and occupation is equal opportunity and treatment in the workplace. Employees' ability to fully exercise their right to work will be hindered if there are inequities in the workplace. Sexual harassment has been identified as one of the workplace dangers that obstructs the attainment and enjoyment of the right to equal opportunity and treatment in the workplace and undermines employees' right to decent work.
South Africa has a legal structure that recognizes the reality of workplace sexual harassment. Equal opportunity laws are used to empower a Code of Good Practice that prohibits sexual harassment. The South African courts have also taken a proactive approach of enforcing legislative requirements and developing common law concepts on workplace sexual harassment. Furthermore, there is legislation that has been established that criminalizes harassment in general, in addition to laws that are against sexual harassment.
While the continued presence of legislation is not an end in itself, sexual harassment regulations may serve to discourage such behavior as well as to enlighten employees about their workplace rights, which include but are not limited to a guarantee against unfair dismissals and withholding of wages. The idea is that sexual harassment should be considered a breach of an employee's human rights rather than a simple act of misconduct. With this in mind, the necessity to move away from relying solely on Codes of Good Practice to clear and binding regulations should be the government’s main objective. This will be indicative of their concern for employee protection and compliance with international labour standards.