Gender Roles and Perception of Sexual Harassment in Patriarchal Societies

Sexual harassment is a In fact it is a broad social, multidimensional and multiform issue to be integrally evaluated

According to a large number of studies carried out in different countries of the world, values and behaviors in
patriarchal societies for both genders constitute the greatest challenge in resolving and preventing sexual harassment
cases (Sabitha, 2008).
 Sabitha, M. (2008). Sexual harassment awareness training at workplace: Can it effect administrators’
perception?,JOAAG, Vol. 3(2), 3-6.

Consequently, men and women in traditional societies with traditionally separate gender roles, are ready to tolerate
undesirable sexual behaviors and are less prone to consider them as sexual harassments than men and women in
modern societies, who react more severely to any undesired sexual behavior. (Malovich & Stake, 1990).
 Malovich, N.J. & Stake, J.E. (1990). Sexual harassment on campus: Individual differences in attitudes and
beliefs. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 14, 63-81.

More specifically, the gender of sexual harasser and of the victim are expected to perceive the sexual harassment
depending on gender roles connected with the male or female status, clearly distinguished roles in patriarchal
societies (McKinney, 1992).
 McKinney, K. (1992). Contrapower Sexual Harassment: The effect of Student Sex and Type of Behavior on
Faculty Perceptions. Sex Roles, 27, 630-632.

Some researchers have argued that sexual harassment is prevalent in public premises such as universities, among the
students or in other public facilities such as dormitories, libraries, teaching rooms etc, based on gender
discrimination (Lenton et al, 1999).
 Lenton, R., Smith, M. D., Fox, J., & Morra, N. (1999). Sexual harassment in public places: Experiences of
Canadian women. Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 36(4), 517-540.

Bernard and Shclagjer declared that college men said sexual harassment is a form of “entertainment” for them and
mostly occurs when they are in the company of men. According to them, 20% of male participants in their study
admitted that if they were alone, they would not exercise sexual harassment. (Bernard and Shclagjer, 1996).
 Benard, C., & Schlaffer, E. (1996). The man in the street: Why he harasses. In T. A. Verta, N.
Whittier, & L. Richardson (Eds.). Feminist Frontiers IV. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Norms and values of the society may also predict to what extent the females report violence or sexual harassment. In
this context, Albania refers to patriarchal norms and values when men dominate the society and they consider
females as their own property. In those societies the blame is generally attributed to victims of sexual harassment
and not to the harassers (Amnesty, 2005).

 Amnesty International UK (2005) Sexual assault research summary report. http://www.amnesty.org.uk