Letter of the Day | Implications of the new Sexual Harassment Act
Published:Thursday | June 29, 2023 | 12:29 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
Today the sex offender’s registry of Jamaica remains a top secret to which seemingly only some people in society are privy.
But what are the implications posed by the new Sexual Harassment Act which takes effect on July 3, 2023? It is alarming to note that in this the era of knowledge and access to information things of this nature are being held secret. We should know who are on the sex registry. When it is not made public it is like punishing the victims 100 million times over.
Fitzgerald et al define sexual harassment as a phenomenon of ‘unsolicited and unwanted sexual behaviour that is perceived by the victim as humiliating, offensive, and disabling in terms of their own safety and psychophysical well-being’.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) describes it as ‘a series of repeated, unsolicited, non-reciprocal, and fully imposed harassments by the perpetrator that can have serious undesirable effects on the person in a workplace, school, church, home or even in public spaces’.
It may also include acts such as groping, intrusive looks, comments, and/or jokes about the victim’s body/clothing/uterus, use of sexually explicit language or innuendo about the victim’s private life, comments about sexual orientation, or even sexual/erotic contact and viewing of pornographic audio/video material. Too often persons in power or persons who don’t even know you utter lewd comments, sexual innuendos, sexist statements whether face to face or in cyberworld that just are outright inappropriate, distasteful, and insights sexual harassment.
CHANGE OF BEHAVIOUR
In the context of Jamaica, Minister Olivia Grange states that the act contains provisions for dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace, schools, correctional institutions, places of safety, nursing homes, medical and psychiatric facilities, among other places. Therefore, everyone has the right and responsibility to be in the know and speak up if they are affected in any way based on the contents outlined in the Sexual Harassment Act. Our people need to recondition their emotions, thoughts, affiliations, egos, interactions, comments, and refrain from touching or analyse the contents they send to others.
For change of behaviour to occur or the average person to understand the act, there must be continuous educational campaigns to engage the public, schools, workplaces, etc.
While presenting and enacting the act is a great achievement, the work to change people’s thinking and behaviour must start with education. The campaigns need to tackle the penalties associated with the act, each person’s responsibility, and the charges associated with the act, the reporting of sexual harassment mechanisms as well as the victims of sexual harassment.
While I welcome the act, I am very cognisant that persons will be using artificial intelligence as well as falsehood to pin lies, deceptions and charges on innocent people within the contexts of this Sexual Harassment Act. I hope the law is prepared for these cases and will treat them accordingly.
It is everyone’s duty to protect themselves, their children, their ward, the elderly, employees, church members, prisoners, etc., from sexual harassment. And if it happens it is your duty to report it and give evidence where applicable. After all, we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. This is where the Protected Disclosure Act comes into play also. Whistleblowing must be encouraged as we must do everything in our power to mitigate and stop sexual harassment of all forms in our society.
KAREN MCFARLANE