Students’ experiences of sexual harassment; a descriptive cross-sectional study in a college of education, Ghana

Abstract

IntroductionSexual harassment is a component of gender-based discrimination that indicates unequal power relations and affects students' psychological and physical well-being and academic achievement. This study assessed students’ experiences of sexual harassment at the Offinso College of Education. MethodsThis cross-sectional descriptive study incorporated a whole population sampling of second and third-year female students to respond to a pre-tested questionnaire uploaded on Google Forms. The data were vetted for appropriateness, cleaned in Microsoft Excel, and transferred to IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences for analysis into descriptive statistics and chi-square tests of associations. ResultsThe study indicated that women (66%) had previously had sex before admission into college and perceived that they were at risk of sexual harassment (43.0%). It was statistically significant that the student's level of education was associated with the experience of being sexually harassed (χ2 = 10.950, p-value <0.00) and the perception that sexual harassment was a problem among students (χ2 = 13.376, p-value <0.01). The nature of the female students' marital relationships was statistically significant (χ2 = 11.209, p-value<0.02) to the perception of sexual harassment as a problem in the college. ConclusionFemale students must have adequate education on the sexual harassment policy of the institution and measures put in place to identify and provide appropriate sanctions to issues of sexual harassment at the college education level.