Sexual Harassment in Workplace

McLaughlin, H., Uggen, C. and Blackstone, A., 2012. Sexual harassment, workplace authority, and the paradox of power. American sociological review, 77(4), pp.625-647.

The term sexual harassment did not come into introduction until the twentieth century. In recent times, several organizations, sexual workshops, laws and policies have been formulated to observe and identify the core issues related to the increased growth of sexual harassment along with other forms of gender discrimination. This article examines the cruelty, atrocities and harassment in a broader sense. Several feminist theorists have broadly evaluated the growing patterns of prejudice, intolerance and discrimination drawing a clear association with harassment to sexual inequality. This article discusses about the arguments stated on Connell’s theory of hegemonic masculinity that societal norms and privileges encourage the sole normative principle of the attitudes of men towards the women of the society. However, it must be taken into account that sexual harassment must be implemented as a tool to restrict and further regulate the suitable ways of ‘doing gender’ in the context of workplace and thus to reprimand gender eccentricity. According to the authors of this article, women who possess authoritarian positions provide and interesting contradiction for theory and investigation based on sexual harassment and theorists have advanced two discrete positions. The first assumption that is related to vulnerable-victim hypothesis advocates that workers belonging to vulnerable and marginal sections, which includes women, marginalized racial groups and the ones attached to precarious situations are vulnerable and thus subjected to higher tendencies of sexual harassment. The article further highlights the scenarios women experience when they belong to higher and superior positions in comparison to men face exploitation and harassment by their opposite gender. The scenario for women have remained unchanged as they still perform roles which are mostly underrepresented  in areas of ability or relegate  to lower segments of management.

2. a) This article has implemented a triangulation method that is the usage of both quantitative as well as qualitative data. The use of mixed methodology is significant in this article in order to consider the three assumptions drawn from a fundamental integrated feminist model of sexual violence by evaluating if managerial and administrative influence, gender identity along with industry gender composition which has association with events and experiences with sexual harassment (Fielding 2012). The use of well-established statistical data to examine individual disparities the qualitative methods will offer predictions of whether there are any specific accounts of information respondents provide against any distressing actions and if the respondents provide subjectively explanations as harassment. Thus, a quantitative research methodology is required by implementing survey data in order to evaluate the in-depth interviews of the respondents of Youth Development Study to enlighten the processes underlying these relationships (Mertens 2014). However, quantitative research method sometimes faces criticisms as it provides assumptions regarding the sexual behaviour in the workplace that causes harm and destruction to the dignity of women.

Gender Pay Gap in Germany

b) The primary concept that has been measured in this study is the perceptions and notions the respondents provide related to the attitudes towards sexual harassment. The sampling survey consisted of 1010 youths during 1988. These participants were studying in the ninth grade and have been interviewed until 2004 when they were almost thirty years old. The data gathered in 2004, has been analyzed was collected. The respondents were interviewed about their perceptions of sexual harassment and their level of comfort attached to it. The respondents of YDS were interrogated about the notions and standpoints about sexual activities and if they view such actions as disgraceful or intolerable (Emdad et al. 2013).  The quantitative study in this article measured the authority presented at the workplace as administrative authority in 2004 in order to quantify the dissimilarities between genders influencing the organizational authority. The second variable measured is about sex and gender to evaluate the gender identifications and performances by formulating interview questions like ‘How feminine would you say you are?’ The third variable that is the dimension of race and national origin focused on the usage of dichotomous measures of race and nationality (Denzin 2012). The second last independent variable evaluated the family status, the account of vulnerability single women faced in comparison with married ones. A work characteristic, which is the last independent variable, examined the environment women work.

c) The mixed methodological strategy has been adopted in order to enlighten the subjective aspects of sexual harassment (Steiner 2012). This method in the first place considered the probabilities of the data provided by the participants against any behavioural indicator where it has found that thirty-six percent respondents have experienced. Secondly, the triangulation method envisages a range of four fundamental indicators asked during the interview period of 2003-2004 that was related to the offensive gestures, inappropriate touching, and forcible attempts of sex. The third dimension offers a thorough assessment of subjective humiliation with the usage of respondents’ self-assessments instead of behavioural outlines.

d) The article managed to convince through the quantitative analyses, which recognized the fundamental empirical associations, and the qualitative interview research provided the reasons and explanations of the interconnectedness of these relations. The triangulation method suggested that sexual harassment experiences are more varied than the generalized notion of the harassment scenario of male and female subordinates. This analysis provided certain effective insights on the relative authority present in both the parties in the context of harassment. High quality research data can be produced through excellent empirical research.

Sampling Procedure

Hirsch, B., Schank, T. and Schnabel, C., 2010. Differences in labour supply to monopsonistic firms and the gender pay gap: An empirical analysis using linked employer-employee data from Germany. Journal of Labor Economics, 28(2), pp.291-330.

Traditional research provides thorough investigation on the elasticity of women’s labour workforce as compared to men. This article however observes that although the production of women has greater level of flexibility compared to men at the market level, but the scenario might be contradictory at an organizational level because of stern competition and steeper labour production for women to the company. The reason behind this can be related to various preferences and inclinations further resulting to the growing rate of immobility. It must be taken into consideration that certain theoretical assumptions can be drawn in relation to wage disparity and discrimination. However, few resources negate that firms engage into pay discrimination to assure profit maximization rather than depending wholly on valuable prejudices. On the other hand, three types of explorations can evaluate the probabilities of whether organizational labour contributions are different between the two genders. Evaluation on men and women’s labour supply to an organization can be conducted with the help of structural approach that relies on a dynamic structure of new monopsony (Webber 2016). A structural approach is considered as an effective tool to observe the profit maximising as well as while estimating both men and women’s organizational level employment production.

What sampling procedure is used, and do you think it is appropriate?

A subsequent empirical research analysis has been conducted in this study which is the German LIAB also known as Linked Employer Dataset of the Institute for Employment Research belonging to the Federal Employment Agency of German. An employee background that is required for formulating the LIAB depends on the incorporated notification course of action for health, pension as well as unemployment monetary assurance. According to theorist Youngjoo Cha, the empirical research procedure is crucial to gather data of the entire workforce if censored with the help of  the social defence structure, at the area, where the act of misleading and invalid reporting is authorized within legal procedures.  The data gathered through this sampling procedure incorporates information of all workers based on the daily gross earnings concealed by the security system.

What are the main concepts measured in the study, and do you think the measures used are valid?

The sample means of income and several other explanatory variables have been discussed in this study. It has been recognized in the regression sampling that the wages earned by men are higher on the average of about fifteen percent as compared to the female workers. The study managed to convince through the structural estimation method and empirical study to assess the continued income elasticity of an organization men and women’s production supplies. There is a need of a logit model in order to understand the probability of a recruit being hired from the employment, where the approximate co efficiency due to log remuneration relates the division of elasticity with the service as well as the recruitment elasticity from lack of employment (Lewis 2015). According to Burchell, the four dimensions or legit model are as follows, devoid of establishment controlling measures, in regards to the alliance to establishment control, along with the establishment controls and individual specific frailties and lastly with random impacts that is in relation with establishment controls with explicit of establishment related frailties.

What methods were used to analyze the data?

The method of survival analysis has been conducted to observe and further analyze the varied aspects and institutions present in the German structure of wage and gross determination. The system of collective negotiation amongst the union associations and workers in Germany is predominant particularly at the sectoral as well as regional domain (Card, Heining and Kline 2013). However, it must be noted that such trend of collective negotiation might take place at organizational level as well.

 Do you find the author’s conclusions convincing?

The conclusions however, managed to influence with the help of an empirical, survival as well as structural approach. This approach nevertheless relied on the fundamental model of new monopsony and further drew relations to the dataset of employer-employee that is situated in the German context.

References

Burchell, B., Sehnbruch, K., Piasna, A. and Agloni, N., 2013. The quality of employment and decent work: definitions, methodologies, and ongoing debates. Cambridge journal of economics, 38(2), pp.459-477.

Card, D., Heining, J. and Kline, P., 2013. Workplace heterogeneity and the rise of West German wage inequality. The Quarterly journal of economics, 128(3), pp.967-1015.

Cha, Y. and Weeden, K.A., 2014. Overwork and the slow convergence in the gender gap in wages. American Sociological Review, 79(3), pp.457-484.

Denzin, N.K., 2012. Triangulation 2.0. Journal of mixed methods research, 6(2), pp.80-88.

Emdad, R., Alipour, A., Hagberg, J. and Jensen, I.B., 2013. The impact of bystanding to workplace bullying on symptoms of depression among women and men in industry in Sweden: an empirical and theoretical longitudinal study. International archives of occupational and environmental health, 86(6), pp.709-716.

Fielding, N.G., 2012. Triangulation and mixed methods designs: Data integration with new research technologies. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 6(2), pp.124-136.

Hirsch, B., Schank, T. and Schnabel, C., 2010. Differences in labor supply to monopsonistic firms and the gender pay gap: An empirical analysis using linked employer-employee data from Germany. Journal of Labor Economics, 28(2), pp.291-330.

Lewis, S., 2015. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Health promotion practice, 16(4), pp.473-475.

McLaughlin, H., Uggen, C. and Blackstone, A., 2012. Sexual harassment, workplace authority, and the paradox of power. American sociological review, 77(4), pp.625-647.

Mertens, D.M., 2014. Research and evaluation in education and psychology: Integrating diversity with quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. Sage publications.

Steiner, J., 2012. The foundations of deliberative democracy: Empirical research and normative implications. Cambridge University Press.

Webber, D.A., 2016. Firm?Level Monopsony and the Gender Pay Gap. Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, 55(2), pp.323-345.