Practices of Implementation of Sexual Harassment Policies: Individual Versus Collective Strategies1

Abstract

abstract This article examines the implementation of sexual harassment law in the workplace in Germany and the United States. Both countries have developed different approaches to the issue, with certain trade‐offs for the pursuit of gender equality and changes in gender workplace culture. Germany has developed a corporatist, collective strategy. Yet, few German employers have adopted policies and training programs. New policy approaches focus on sexual harassment as a group‐based, but gender‐neutral, issue in the context of general unfair workplace practices of “mobbing.” In contrast, sexual harassment is primarily understood as an individual rights issue in the U.S. This approach emphasizes individual (internal) redress. Social and organizational change comes at a high cost for individuals who have been harassed. Employers’ practices in both countries have turned sexual harassment into a gender‐neutral issue. I conclude that a synthesis of both individual and collective approaches with an explicit focus on gender inequality would be desirable.