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Argumentative essay: Sexual harassment in the hospitalityindustry
Demi Laan 1569593, ENV-L
Teacher: Saskia Homoet
There are many definitions of sexual harassment. Overall, sexual harassment is seen as
sexual conduct that is unwanted and unwelcome. Sexual harassment is everywhere, often
driven by power and it can have huge a huge impact on, and consequences for, any person.
The harassment can be verbal and physical. Sexual harassment has been present for years,
but since the #MeToo movement went viral in 2017, the topic is more discussed. But still,
there are no direct solutions. American estimates have indicated that between 40 and 75
percent of women have experienced sexual harassment at their workplace. For men, this
percentage is between 13 and 31 percent (Aggarwal & Gupta, 2000). Sexual harassment is
present in workplaces all over the world. Even though, sexual harassment is more present
in the hospitality industry than it is in other industries.
Opponents mention that a lot of jobs contain close interaction with people, and therefore,
sexual harassment is present within all jobs. Sexual harassment can occur wherever there is
an interaction between people. However, in the hospitality industry, this interaction with
people also includes close interaction with guests. There are a lot of guest's that do not feel
responsible for their actions. According to Hayner (1928), the reason for this is because
guests feel more anonymous since they are away from home and often do they not know
the people they are surrounded by. Especially tourists, who are acting in another country.
Guests are free to come and go and behave as they like, which gives them a feeling of
freedom. This feeling can result in behaviors like sexual harassment. Furthermore, in a study
of hospitality personnel directors, Gilbert, Guerrier, and Guy (1998) found out that almost
40 percent of female staff were obligated to wear skirts or dresses, instead of wearing
pants. Furthermore, 7 percent considered flirting as a part of the service. Lastly, almost 30
percent of the directors thought sexual jokes and teasing is only a ‘'minor issue''. This shows
that the management is not acting right and almost supports the harassment. This, the
wearing of skirts and flirting as part of service, in combination with the guest's feeling of
freedom, results in sexual harassment.
Opponents also maintain that technology and media workers are an easy target for sexual
harassment. Nowadays, a big part of the technology and media industries are working with
contractors and freelancers. This collaboration is based on independent employment. Most
of those independent groups are not protected under federal workplace and discrimination
protections. Some examples are the Age Discrimination Employment Act and the Civil Rights
Act. This makes it tough to address harassment, let alone, to undertake legal action (Durana,
Lenhart, Miller, Schulte, & Weingarten, 2018). This collaboration is more anonymous and
therefore employers can see this as an opportunity to harass without consequences.
However, there are several factors that make hospitality workers even an easier target for
sexual harassment. Hospitality workers are often (younger) women, with lower education.
For those women, it is more difficult to handle people in authority. They feel less confident
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