LAST month, a senior government official in the New South Wales Parliament in Australia was forced to resign, after having been found to have sexually harassed his female staff.
The women, initially reluctant to complain because of fear of losing their jobs, claimed he locked them in offices late at night, was constantly grabbing them and hugging them, kissed them frequently and made unwanted sexual propositions and gestures.
Eventually, his behaviour was revealed, he was sacked from the Ministry and dropped from the Liberal Party. But the ex-minister, Terry Griffiths, still refuses to acknowledge that his behaviour constituted sexual harassment. In his eyes, the hugging and kissing was just 'friendliness'.
Studies carried out in the US and in Hong Kong have revealed, not surprisingly, that males are far less inclined to accept sexual harassment as a valid complaint, instead interpreting it as women playing hard to get or allowing their vanity to read things into situations which were never intended.
Studies of students at the Chinese University by Dr Choi Po-king have revealed the enormous differences in the perceptions of males and females about what constitutes sexual harassment.
'While women's perceptions are likely to be grounded in real-life experiences, men's perceptions are likely to be related to stereotypical perceptions of women and their roles,' Dr Choi said. 'Moreover the element of personal dignity, which is foremost in women's definition of sexual harassment is conspicuously absent from that of men.' During the study, which involved discussion panels, some men expressed the view that sexual harassment could not be a serious problem since women have not protested much about it.
