| FES Dialogue on Globalization |
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The Status of the Implementation
of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Law at the Firm Level: A Retrospect
"THE ANTI-SEXUAL HARASSMENT LAW IN RETROSPECT:
ADVANCING OR RETARDING WOMEN'S STATUS?" "One of the reasons for the victim's reluctance to report the wrongdoing is the fear of depersonalizing and humiliating institutional procedures and interpersonal hassles." The Anti-Sexual Harassment Law has initially received positive response and gave a glimpse of hope to prevent discrimination in the workplace, particularly among the women in the formal labor sector. After five years of implementation, it is very interesting to see how far has it gone in terms of its implementation and extent of effectiveness in protecting women workers at the firm level. 1. Profile of Establishments Given this general objective, a survey was conducted among 334 unionized and non-unionized establishments in five (5) provinces where MAKALAYA chapters and/ or LEARN partners are found. There are 43 unionized and 291 non-unionized establishments that were covered. A total of 364 women respondents actually answered the survey questionnaire. Out of 364 respondents, 275 are women workers and 89 are management representatives. The 334 establishments that participated in the survey are located in Manila, Bulacan, General Santos City, Davao, Cebu City, and Zamboanga. These firms represent both the private and the public sectors. Classified by type of industry, a good portion (31%) are from the financing, real estate, insurance, and business services, one fifth (21%) are from the community, social and personal services, about 14% are from the manufacturing, and the rest are from the other sectors, including those from the government agencies like the National Statistics Office (NSO). Grouped by type of ownership, 14% are Filipino, 22% are Filipino-Chinese, 14% are other nationalities, 10% are government-owned, 9% are Chinese, and 2% are Japanese. By size of employment, a big bulk (62%) are large, some (20%) are medium, and a smaller percentage (19%) are small companies. Moreover, these establishments are either registered as single proprietorship (11%), partnership (11%), private corporation (6%), government corporation (5%), government agency (5%), or a cooperative (3%). 2. System of Implementation Out of the 334 establishments that were surveyed, only a small proportion (21% or 70) has implementing guidelines on sexual harassment. A typical establishment with implementing guidelines on the anti-sexual harassment law is non-unionized, comes from the financing, real estate, insurance, and business services industry, owned by Filipino, large in size of employment, registered as a private corporation, and located in Metro Manila (refer to Figure 1).
Figure 1 Objectives for the implementation of the company guidelines on sexual harassment The top three (3) objectives for the implementation of the company guidelines on Sexual Harassment are: (1) to implement the Civil Service Commission guidelines (for government agencies/ corporations); (2) to implement R.A. 7877 in the workplace; and (3) to protect the rights of women in the company/ protect women from sexual exploitation. Acts that constitute sexual harassment Given the objectives, the specific acts that constitute sexual harassment as indicated in their guidelines are numerous (Refer to Table 1). The top five (5) more frequently mentioned acts are: (1) proposing intimate dates of favors in exchange for a job, favorable working conditions or assignments/ Use of one’s position, power or authority to convince subordinate to have sexual relations; (2) touching a co-employee in sensitive parts of his/her body, threats of a sexual nature and actual sexual assault; (3) making offensive hand or body gestures at a co-employee; (4) pinching, unnecessarily brushing up against a co-employee’s body; (5) persistently telling smutty jokes to a co-employees who has indicated that he/she finds them offensive. Table 1. Acts that constitute sexual harassment
Others did not specify as stated above instead classified them as: 1. Verbal – sexual innuendoes, suggestive comments, jokes of sexual nature, sexual propositions, lewd remarks, threats, request for any type of sexual favor (includes repeated, unwelcome request for dates). 2. Sexually-oriented gestures, noises, remarks, jokes or comments about a person’s sexuality or sexual experience directed at or made in the presence of the person. 3. Non-Verbal – distribution, display (in any medium), or discussion, of any written or pornographic material including cartoons, posters, calendars that are sexually suggestive, shows hostility towards an individual or group because of sex, suggestive or insulting sounds, leering, whistling, obscene gestures, content in letters and notes, facsimiles computers, e-mail, text messages, that are sexual in nature 4. Physical contact – unwelcome, unwanted physical contact, including but not limited to touching, tickling, pinching, opting, brushing up against, hugging, cornering, kissing, fondling, forced sexual intercourse or assault and indecent exposure. Types of Penalties Based on Table 1, acts numbers 1 to 3 are considered light offenses, acts numbers 4 to 7 are classified as less serious/ less grave offenses, acts number 8 to 10 are serious/ grave offenses, and act number 11 is dependent on the act committed by the person. For light offenses, the common penalty is reprimand, fine, or suspension not exceeding 30 days. For less serious/ grave offenses the sanction is transfer or demotion in rank or salary or fine suspension not exceeding 6 months. For serious / grave offenses, the maximum penalty is termination. Procedure The procedure for investigation starts when the complainant files a written complaint (usually) to the Human Resource Department (HRD). In some instances, depending on the structure of the firm, the written complaint is filed to the Committee on Decorum and Investigation, or to Legal Department, or to the Management/ Administration Board, or to the Grievance Committee. If the company is unionized, the complaint is filed through the union. As a matter of procedure, upon receipt of the written complaint, written explanation on the part of the accused and witnesses are sought and personal interviews are conducted. In some other companies, the conduct of hearings on the case is done in coordination with the Legal Department. For companies with no permanent mechanism, a task force is or a committee composed of union officers and managers is created to investigate the complaint created to hear the case The conduct of investigation and the resolution of the case, it always involves the Human Resource Department with the head representing the unit. In some instance it is the Committee on Decorum. In others, the task is given to the Legal Department while in the case of unionized establishments the Grievance Committee is involved. Monitoring System The unit or people who monitor compliance with the sexual harassment guidelines are commonly the Human Resource Department and the Committee on Decorum. Several reasons were cited on the absence of implementing guidelines related to Anti-Sexual Harassment Law. The first factor has something to do with the nature and culture of the company. The respondents opined that when the company is small and new; when there are very few or no male employees; when most employees are family relatives; when employees are professionals and believed not to engage in sexual harassment acts, and when core values are instilled by the firms to the employee, there is no need to have the implementing guidelines. The second factor focuses on the “no complaints, cases, or incidents related to sexual harassment exists in the company. The third factor is attributed to the company’s and employees’ non-awareness of the law, therefore, there was no written company policy on this. The fourth factor is pinpointed to the non-priority given by the company to having Anti-Sexual Harassment Law guidelines. It is not a priority of the management even if seminars on gender sensitivity and equality given, because its immediate concerns are the technical systems and the problems of the company. Lastly, the perception that the existing law is sufficient to protect women in the workplace is also a factor that results in the absence of guidelines. When the workers were asked if they are aware of the Anti-Sexual Harassment law, a considerable size (69%) replied that they are aware of it and only a small parcel (31%) gave a no response. Those who vouched that they are aware of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Law mostly said that it pertains to the law that protects young people from abusive and powerful employers or managers (44%). There are also those who understood the law (16%) it in terms of protecting the dignity of individuals and enhance full responsibility of employers in the workplace. While there are also women who only know the law as referring to Republic Act 7877 without being able to explain any details (12.8%). Only about a handful (9.6%) explained the law is intended to protect individuals from verbal and physical abuse in the workplace. Figure 2. Awareness on Sexual Harassment Law The implementation of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Law was rated poor by many (32%), satisfactory by one-fourth (25%), very satisfactory by some (17%), and fair and outstanding by a handful (13% and 12%, respectively). The low ratings (poor to fair) given by the workers are mainly explained by the lack of awareness of he issue/ lack of information drive (66%); a portion can be pinpointed to the employers poor implementation of the lack (e.g. officers are biased; no implementing guidelines, implementation of the guidelines is too strict, cases get dismissed due to insufficient evidence, lack of interest of management in sexual harassment) (14%); and on the fact that only few victims cooperate and respond because of embarrassment or there are those victims who allow it to happen because they are able to get favors at work (8%). Some revealed that in their workplace, no one is serious about he law because sharing green jokes about women is still rampant (6%). There is also the reality that the accused or harasser is able to resolve the case through amicable settlement or “areglo” or intimidate the complainant to discourage her to pursue the case (4%). On the other hand, the high ratings stated by the employers which range from satisfactory to outstanding are primarily attributed to the culture/ condition in the workplace where the firm creates a culture of justice, people in the office are mature and educated, there is a harmonious working relationship, and employment, promotion and benefits of individuals are based on merit or not on favors granted (42%). Another good number (26%) give credit to the employers’ well implementation of the policies, providing clear orientation about sexual harassment before employees start to work, and prioritizing the resolution of sexual harassment cases. The third contributing factor identified is related to the awareness of the employees about sexual harassment which is done through the issuance of a handbook, information dissemination about the law, conduct of continuing studies about the implication of the law, and giving of updates and guidelines to employees to help them in everyday activities (21%). Figure 3. Over-all Assessment on the Implementation of the Sexual Harassment Law in the Workplace Figure 4. Number of Companies with Implementing Guidelines on Sexual Harassment in the Workplace There are 57 (17%) out of 334 establishments with records of sexual harassment cases in spite of the presence of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Law. Of this number, 81% happened in non-unionized firms and 19% occurred in unionized establishments. Figure 5. Number of Companies with reported sexual harassment cases Moreover, sexual harassment cases typically happen in the financial, real estate, insurance and business services and in the community, social, and personal services industries; private corporation, owned by Filipino, large in employment size, and located in Metro Manila. Out of the 57 companies that reported cases of sexual harassment, 23% did not file any complaint, 16% are pending for resolution, 14% have on-going investigation and 47% were resolved. Figure 6. Status of sexual harassment cases An array of problems was averred by the workers in the implementation of the sexual harassment law in the workplace. The foremost difficulty (47%) is due to the lack of awareness of the employees about the law. This is attributed to reasons like the lack of information dissemination or campaign conducted by management. More so, employees are not given a copy of the law itself and there is no simplified explanation about the law. The other problem hinges on the victims themselves because they just the violations secret or do not want to file a complaint due to fear of embarrassment (21%). There is also the constraint posed by the employer. They are either lenient on the implementation of the law or they are the first ones to break the law or they have not issued clear/ formalized policies (11%). The other difficulty identified by the workers is related to the accused, specifically when the accused bribes or sometimes feels he is not given enough time to explain his side (4%).
Figure 7. Problems encountered in the implementation of the anti-sexual harassment law in the workplace Finally, the condition/ culture in the workplace also contributes to the problem of implementation. This is manifested in the lack of interest of most employees since most of them are men or there are a lot of male chauvinists among them (10%). Anti-Sexual Harassment Law in Retrospect A large number (78%) of the workers, in spite of the low percentage (21% or 70 firms) of establishments with implementing guidelines on the Anti-Sexual Harassment Law, believed the Anti-Sexual Harassment is advancing the status of women in the workplace. This assertion was founded on the following grounds:
There is only a minute portion (3%) of the workers who verbalized that he ASH is retarding the status of women in the workplace. Their reasons were as follows: 1. very few companies comply, there are many unresolved cases, even if the law exists 2. giving protection to women against men means there is no equality 3. the law could also be used by women to destroy others 4. the heads/ bosses would not also abide by the law 5. the law strains the relationship of men-women for fear of being accused of sexual harassment 6. the law defeats the purpose of co-existence between men and women 7. women are overprotected 8. lack of information and ignorance of the law
Figure 8. Perceived effect of the Sexual Harassment Law on the status of women in the workplace ---END--- Copyright Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung 2000 |
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