Sexual harassment in the workplace is described as actions that are sexually directed and unwanted whether verbal, visual or physical conduct of a sexual nature, which subjects the employee to unpleasant employment conditions or creates an unfriendly work environment. It is a vital concern in many corporations and can occur in a variety of workplace relationships. Sexual harassment can occur between a boss and a subordinate, coworkers, and even non-employees that have business transactions with employees (Mathis & Jackson, 2006). Sexual harassment is described as a form of gender discrimination which is a violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Title VII, applies to private and most public employers, labor organizations, employment agencies, and joint employer-union apprenticeship programs with 15 or more employees. The law makes certain employers responsible for preventing and stopping sexual harassment that occurs on the job. Sexual harassment is very widespread and affects women in every workplace setting and at every level of employment. Surveys indicate that almost half of all working women have experienced some form of harassment on the job, a proportion that has not changed since the issue gained visibility in the early 1980s (Heathfield, 2009). No occupation is immune from sexual harassment, but the incidence of harassment is higher in workplaces that have traditionally excluded women, including both blue collar jobs like mining and white collar ones like surgery (Heathfield, 2009).
Very few harassed women, only 5 - 15%, formally report problems of harassment to their employers or fair employment agencies. Women are sometimes reluctant to make allegations of sexual harassment for a number of reasons, including fear of losing their jobs or otherwise hurting their careers, fear of not being believed, the belief that nothing can