Harassing The Mentors: A Phenomenological Study In Cross Gender Perspective

Abstract

The phenomenon of sexual harassment in an educational setup has been an unpinned topic. With more than 47% of the teaching staff in educational institutions females, the situation is getting worst on the esteem and honour of the profession. The nobles of the profession are on the target of harassment by none other than their own students. This paper explores particular type of sexual harassment in an attempt to understand and apprehend the essence, meanings and elements of the sexual harassment caused by male students towards their female teachers in a formal education environment. The research strategy is based on interpretive consumer research, with influences from phenomenology. The main research data was generated by face-to-face interviews from five female secondary and higher secondary teacher about their experiences of facing sexually harassing behaviours in the course of class and school. This study theoretically contributes by exploring the breadth of the issue faced by teachers and explored the defining terms, elements, reasons and responses and measure taken by the interviewed teachers.