A Review of Organizational Strategies for Reducing Sexual Harassment: Insights from the U. S. Military

Abstract

Sexual harassment is a form of sexual victimization with its roots in sexism. Despite efforts to reduce its prevalence, it continues to be one of the most common forms of workplace mistreatment. This article examined best practices in system‐level interventions to reduce sexual harassment in the workplace and presents data from the U.S. Armed Forces to demonstrate the roles of organizational leadership, and sexual harassment policies and training, on reducing sexual harassment and improving outcomes when it does occur. We assert that a clear and consistent antiharassment message from organizational leaders is essential. This is communicated via a written, widely disseminated policy on sexual harassment; regular educational training for all members of the organization; formal and informal reporting, investigation, and remediation procedures. Finally, we suggest that organizations conduct regular self‐assessments of sexual harassment and perceptions of the organizational climate as proactive efforts to effectively intervene and eliminate its occurrence.

Using Experiential Learning to Increase the Recognition of Everyday Sexism as Harmful: The WAGES Intervention

“…Notably, merely providing information about gender inequity in a nonexperiential learning format (i.e., the information only condition) had a null or even a negative effect. This is consistent with other work suggesting that effective change for reducing sexual harassment (Buchanan, Settles, Hall, & O'Connor, 2014), reducing sexist beliefs (Becker & Swim, 2011;de Lemus et al, 2014), and increasing awareness of privilege (Case, Hensley, & Anderson, 2014) goes beyond simply providing information, but rather actively engages participants in knowledge construction. The different outcomes obtained by WAGES vs. information only were due to WAGES evoking less reactance and promoting self-efficacy, suggesting that reactance and self-efficacy are key for influencing perceptions of harm and behavioral intentions.…”

The Evolution of Whistleblowing Studies: A Critical Review and Research Agenda

“…For example, while reporting has been acknowledged as a viable strategy for decreasing the incidence of sexual harassment (Buchanan et al 2014), few studies explore whistleblowing of this wrongdoing and its determinants, which mainly involve the characteristics of the harasser and the victim (Lee et al 2004;Tseng 2014). Hence, the literature could benefit from an in-depth exploration of the steps in the whistleblowing decision-making process, which has thus far not been studied in this context.…”

Confronting and Reducing Sexism: A Call for Research on Intervention

“…In the last paper of this section, Buchanan, Settles, Hall, and O'Connor () review system‐level interventions designed to reduce the prevalence of sexual harassment in the workplace, and organizational responses to those who confront or report sexual harassment. They first describe why sexual harassment occurs, namely that certain workplaces create a permissive climate or espouse hyper‐masculine values.…”