Abstract
No study has been conducted on sexual harassment of physiotherapists in South Africa and it is therefore not known whether harassment occurs and if it does, to what extent. To this purpose, a questionnaire on sexual harassment and other sexual-related issues in the physiotherapy work environment in South Africa, was sent to a random selection of 982 physiotherapists registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa. The response rate was 32%. This paper presents the results of the first half of the questionnaire, which was devoted to sexual harassment of the physiotherapist. Approximately 60% had experienced sexual harassment, of which 83.98% had been perpetrated by patients. Only 5.82% of the respondents had received some form of information in this regard. The most common form of harassment was requests for a hug or kiss.
Highlights
Sexual harassment of physiotherapists is not openly discussed and it is difficult to know the extent to which it occurs and how to eliminate it
According to the Labour Relations Act (1995), the Employment Equity Act (1998) and the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Discrimination Act (‘Equality Act’) (2000) sexual harassment is considered as a form of discrimination since it is based on gender discrimination
DeMayo (1997) did not use the terms inappropriate sexual behaviour or sexual harassment, but only referred to such behaviour as ‘sexually related patient behaviours’. The respondents to this survey questionnaire were supplied with the following definition of sexual harassment in the covering letter: (1) Where the employee has to submit to sexual advances in exchange for job benefits, and / or be penalized for refusing; (2) Where the work environment becomes hostile in the sense that offensive sexual conduct occurs and the employee’s well-being is threatened (Ovid Scope Note 1993)
Summary
Sexual harassment of physiotherapists is not openly discussed and it is difficult to know the extent to which it occurs and how to eliminate it. According to the Labour Relations Act (1995), the Employment Equity Act (1998) and the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Discrimination Act (‘Equality Act’) (2000) sexual harassment is considered as a form of discrimination since it is based on gender discrimination. Both the South African Constitution (The Constitution 1996) and the ‘Equality Act’ (2000) prohibit discrimination, amongst others, on the grounds of gender. It is obvious that written remarks, offensive drawings or pictures and sexual videos shown in the workplace, would all be considered as behaviour which is detrimental to the work environment. In South Africa, the Guidelines and Codes of Practice (1998) includes the exploitation of sexually explicit objects, these are not further described
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