The Incidence and Outcomes of Sexual Harassment Among Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White Women: A Comparison Across Levels of Cultural Affiliation

Abstract

An extensive body of literature has documented the widespread and damaging nature of sexual harassment among Anglo women, but little attention has focused on the experiences of women of color. The current paper begins to address this gap by comparing sexual harassment incidence rates and psychological and work-related outcomes of Hispanic and non-Hispanic White women across varying levels of cultural affiliation. Chi-square tests of association suggest that risk of harassment increases with affiliation to the mainstream U.S. culture, and hierarchical regression analyses suggest that cultural affiliation moderates the relation between sexual harassment and occupational functioning. These provocative findings are discussed in the context of social and economic vulnerability, socio-sexual norms, and cultural background.

Sexual Harassment: Undermining the Wellbeing of Working Women

“…Women experiencing sexual harassment report greater job stress Lim and Cortina 2005 ;O'Connell and Korabick 2000 ). Intended and actual job turnover are also reported (Lim and Cortina 2005 ;O'Connell and Korabik 2000 ;Shupe et al 2002 ;Sims et al 2005 ). Women who experience sexual harassment at work are also more likely to engage in work withdrawal behavior (i.e., attempts to disengage from work without actually quitting, like arriving late or leaving early; Dionisi et al 2012 ;Holland and Cortina 2013 ;Lonsway et al 2013 ;USMPB 1994 ).…”

Sexual Harassment at Work in the United States

“…In the literature (Wyatt & Riederle, 1995), fewer reports of harassment (and other sexually abusive events) among black women has been interpreted as a case of underreporting, driven by a belief that community support would be lacking upon disclosure-a factor that would arguably not apply to anonymous survey data such as the NHSLS. Next, foreign birth could imply less sensitivity to sexual attention, with individuals from societies with more liberal norms about workplace sexual attention less likely to label such behaviors as unwanted or offensive (Shupe, Cortina, Ramos, Fitzgerald, & Salisbury, 2002). Finally, both women and men with no current religious affiliations and those affiliated with non-conservative religious groups could perhaps experience (through more sexualization) and/or report (due to different sensibilities or awareness) more harassment.…”

Cross-Cultural Reactions to Academic Sexual Harassment: Effects of Individualist vs. Collectivist Culture and Gender of Participants

“…In Latin America, according to Shupe et al (2002), some behaviors that would be considered offensive in other countries are considered normal and acceptable. Therefore, the less severe, more ambiguous scenario described in the present study possibly would not appear offensive to the majority of our Ecuadorian respondents.…”

“…As discussed earlier, the behaviors described in the scenario may have appeared normal and acceptable in Latin America. In addition, because few laws against sexual harassment exist in these countries (DeSouza, Pryor, & Hutz, 1998), and there is a "sexual silence" (Pryor et al, 1997;Shupe et al, 2002) that makes it difficult to discuss sexual issues in public, these students maybe unaware of appropriate penalties.…”