Kabat-Farr Dana, Cortina Lilia M
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan.
Law Hum Behav. 2014 Feb;38(1):58-72. doi: 10.1037/lhb0000045. Epub 2013 Aug 5.
Legal definitions of sex-based harassment have evolved over the decades; it is important that social science perspectives on this phenomenon evolve as well. This study seeks to refine our understanding of conditions in which sex-based harassment thrives, with empirical evidence from three organizations. Previous research has suggested that underrepresentation of one's gender in the employment context increases risk for sex-based harassment. This work has focused mainly on sexual-advance forms of harassment, mainly in the lives of women. Less is known about the gender harassment of women, or about any kind of harassment of men. Extending this scholarship, we analyzed survey data from women and men working in three diverse domains: academia (N = 847), the court system (N = 1,158), and the military (N = 19,960). Across all samples, the underrepresentation of women in a workgroup related to increased odds of women experiencing gender harassment, but not sexual-advance harassment. For men, the opposite pattern emerged: underrepresentation did not increase men's risk for either type of harassment, instead relating to decreased odds of harassment in some contexts. We interpret these results in light of theories of tokenism, gender stereotyping, and sex role spillover in organizations. Our findings support the recommendation that, to reduce harassment (whether it be illegal or legal, gender- or sexuality-based, targeted at women or men), organizations should strive for gender balance in every job at every level. For male-dominated contexts, this implies a need to recruit, retain, and integrate more women throughout the organizational hierarchy.
基于性别的骚扰的法律定义在过去几十年中不断演变；社会科学对这一现象的看法也同样演变，这一点很重要。本研究旨在通过来自三个组织的实证证据，完善我们对基于性别的骚扰盛行条件的理解。先前的研究表明，在就业环境中自身性别代表性不足会增加遭受基于性别的骚扰的风险。这项工作主要集中在性骚扰的性侵犯形式上，主要涉及女性的生活。对于女性遭受的性别骚扰，或者男性遭受的任何形式的骚扰，我们了解得较少。为了拓展这方面的学术研究，我们分析了在三个不同领域工作的女性和男性的调查数据：学术界（N = 847）、法院系统（N = 1,158）和军队（N = 19,960）。在所有样本中，工作团队中女性代表性不足与女性遭受性别骚扰的几率增加有关，但与性侵犯骚扰无关。对于男性来说，出现了相反的模式：代表性不足并没有增加男性遭受这两种骚扰的风险，反而在某些情况下与骚扰几率降低有关。我们根据组织中的象征主义、性别刻板印象和性别角色溢出理论来解释这些结果。我们的研究结果支持以下建议，即要减少骚扰（无论是非法的还是合法的，基于性别的还是基于性取向的，针对女性还是男性的），组织应该在各级别的每个工作岗位上努力实现性别平衡。对于男性主导的环境，这意味着需要在整个组织层级中招聘、留住并融入更多女性。
