We’ve just watched the BBC Africa Eye documentary Sex for Work, which revealed the extent of sexual harassment in Kenyan tea plantations. We were lost for words but this piece made us curious about our situation here.
We must admit that things aren’t any better. Globally, one in four women will be sexually harassed at work, a shocking statistic, considering the fact that the number of women in the workforce is going up.
According to a modern insight agency Columinate which did a survey among 1000 South Africans in urban areas, 30% of women said that they were victims of workplace sexual abuse. Out of that, only 16% escalated the issue to human resources while 22% of them kept quiet because they believed that the management would not take any action.
The data also showed that a staggering 51% of the workplaces surveyed lacked proper regulations around sexual harassment which only exacerbates the issue. Hence, as the documentary shows, it is not only a Kenyan issue. Sexual harassment is widespread and seems to be a silent battle. In fact, the report concluded that our corporates have a long way to go in fighting this vice.
What can be done? Well, in our weekly LinkedIn post via YAZA Africa, we looked into the documentary and examined the causes of harassment as well as provided practical solutions for it.
