Prevention and the Ecology of Sexual Harassment:

Abstract

Sexual harassment is a pervasive form of sexual exploitation that has a devastating impact on women. Although there is an increasing literature on the development of policies and procedures to deal with sexual harassment situations, relatively little has been done either to address the diverse conditions that set the stage for harassment or to design preventive interventions. An ecological analysis of sexual harassment is used to identify individual, relationship and environmental risk factors and to formulate preventive approaches. The function of sexual harassment in organizations and the ways in which organizational climates contribute to harassment are discussed. The fostering of empowering climates is proposed as critical to prevention, and several dimensions of empowering climates are explored.