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Sexual Harassment: The Nexus Between Gender and Workplace Authority: Evidence from the Australian Public Service
Author(s) -
Wynen Jan
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
australian journal of public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-8500
pISSN - 0313-6647
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8500.12206
Subject(s) - harassment , nexus (standard) , public service , power (physics) , service (business) , public relations , social psychology , supervisor , political science , psychology , criminology , sociology , business , law , marketing , physics , quantum mechanics , computer science , embedded system
Sexual harassment in the workplace is commonly portrayed as the male supervisor harassing female subordinates. Within this popular characterization, the unequal distribution of formal, organizational power is believed to be a necessary precondition for sexual harassment. The traditional cultural image of harassers and targets has however not kept pace with changing workplace realities. Research has indeed found that female supervisors may in fact be more likely to be subjects of sexual harassment. This article uses survey data from the Australian Public Service to explore this kind of contrapower harassment. Results indicate that a strong link between gender, workplace authority, and sexual harassment exists, but also that this relationship is strongly influenced by age.