Gender Identity, Reasonable Woman Standard, Leadership, and S ...

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Abstract

In this study, we investigated how gender identity influences individual perceptions about the seriousness of workplace sexual harassment incidences and recommendations as to how leaders should act in such situations. We used a sample of 233 employees from a global software company in India. Sixty-five percent of the respondents were male and thirty-five percent were female. We used an instrument that was validated in the Indian context. Contrary to what the social identity theory and the notion of ‘reasonable woman standard’ would predict, we found that both male and female employees perceived sexual harassment incidences involving sexually suggestive remarks, offensive jokes and physical touch in the workplace as ‘serious.’ They also converged on the ranking of helpful and harmful leadership actions. However, they did differ in their intensity for two of the four most helpful leadership actions: respect and equality. Female employees rated actions involving respect and equality as significantly more helpful than the male employees; suggesting that women’s standard for respect and equality in the workplace is perhaps higher than men’s. These divergences suggest that leaders need to strive harder towards the ‘reasonable woman standard’ of respect and equality. As gender identity can ‘bind and blind’ one’s perception of respect and equality, leaders need to actively seek both men and women’s participation in the formulation of sexual harassment prevention policies. The findings also indicate that leaders should not avoid confronting sexual harassment incidences in the workplace (e.g. ‘do-nothing’ about them or ‘sweeping them under the carpet’). As many incidences of sexual harassment often go unreported; managers do not have the luxury of ‘doing nothing’ and instead have a higher responsibility to ‘do something’ and to ‘do everything possible’ towards cultivating the culture of respect and equality in the workplace.