Sexual harassment at workplace

Just call her Aida. The sales promotion girl said she feels uncomfortable with the behaviors of some cheeky customers.

“KBR68H: How many customers have seduced you?”

“Oh, it frequently happens. Sometimes, some customers try to flirt with us. For example, when we are writing something down, they try to hold our hands. In other cases, they seduce us. Some others make a joke, but the joke makes us uncomfortable, because they look at us from the top to the bottom,” said Aida.

The issue of sexual harassment is more complex when it is related to livelihood.

Sexual-related misbehavior even upsets some women. Aida’s co-worker, just call her Lina, once had such an experience. “It’s normal for men to watch such kind of movies (blue film – editor). They explain in details when they watch the movie and give some examples or analogues... if my position is like this or in a certain situation that they can watch. It’s been outrageous and makes me very angry. It’s not just sexual harassment, but more than that.”

Verbal words may sound casual, but not for the National Commission on Anti-Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan). Komnas Perempuan Chairwoman Yuniyanti Chuzaifah said, “We have set a standard that violence can be physical, psychological and verbal when putting someone as an object. ‘You are beautiful’ does show an appreciation, but it’s different from ‘You are beautiful,’said in a capacity to degrade someone. The process of degradation contains some subjective objective standards, because whether you are pleasant or not is a matter of culture.”

The issue of sexual harassment is more complex when it is related to livelihood. Yatini Sulistyowati, chairwoman of the equality commission at the Confederation of Prosperous Indonesian Trade Unions or KSBSI, said, “Sexual harassment does not only happen to women; it may also be experienced by men. We once received a complaint from a man in Papua via an electronic message. His boss is a homosexual, so the case was between a man and another man. His boss sexually abused him. At that time, because he needed a job and it was so easy to get money by having a sexual relationship with his boss, he just endured it. But after two years, he told his boss that he didn’t want to do it anymore. His boss then threatened to fire him.”

Most victims of sexual harassment are reluctant to file a complaint. A cashier, just call her Wati, said that she is used to getting naughty pokes. “I’m tickled. When I’m behind the cashier machine, I suddenly feel my wrist poked. It’s ticklish. Feeling angry? Of course, not. I just say, ‘What are you doing? Someone will see us. It’s not good if someone sees us.’ The assistant manager is the one who frequently tickles me, but only when no one is around. When no customers are around, he makes a joke. Maybe it’s fun for him.”

When filing a complaint, the blame is mostly put on women. Again, Komnas Perempuan Chairwoman Yuniyanti Chuzaifah said, “This violence doesn’t hurt. You get bruised when you are hit. Verbal violence doesn’t have physical, but psychological impacts. And the impact of psychological violence can be more serious and deeper for the victim. It is also difficult to prove. During the process, women are frequently blamed and told, ‘Ah, you are exaggerating, flirty, sensitive, excessive, etc.’, while actually, what the seducer tries to do is to make a woman feel uncomfortable.”

When a victim of sexual harassment wants to file a complaint, they do not know where to go. Again, Yatini Sulistyowati, chairwoman of the equality commission of KSBSI, said, “If they want to report to the manpower agency or supervisory agency, no one has been dealing with this issue. Where are they going to go if this special complaint cannot be settled at the agency level? Should they go to a district court? Yesterday, I was thinking about going to the Industrial Relations Court because it is related to manpower, but what will be the charge? Law No. 2 on Industrial Dispute and Law No. 13 on Manpower do not stipulate anything about sexual harassment.” (*)

This article is the first article on sexual harassment at workplace from a series of three in-depth articles written by Pebriansyah Ariefana and Guruh Dwi Riyanto of KBR68H and published on 6 May 2013. The article is part of the ILO’s media fellowship programme on gender and employment, jointly conducted in collaboration with the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Jakarta and six selected leading, national mass media. The media fellowship programme was part of the campaign conducted by the ILO through its Access to Employment and Decent Work for Women Project, funded by the Australian Government.