A study on Sexual Harassment in Workplace on Omani Female Employees in Government Sector in Sultanate of Oman

Abstract

Sexual harassment in workplace is a global issue that researchers do enormous studies about. However, it still needs more and more study especially in Arabic world which has the culture of avoiding such sensitive topics. The big issue is when we have a place or a country that doesn’t have almost any study about sexual harassment in a workplace. This reaearch is trying to fill this gap. This study aims to discover the level of sexual harassment, causes, appearances, factors, and the level of awareness in workplace in the government sector in the Sultanate of Oman. The sample of the study was selected randomly from 21 governmental foundations in Muscat governate and it reached 432 Omani female employees. The study used descriptive approach through survey method and used SPSS program to analyze data. The study found that the level of sexual harassment is very low by 1.40 and also clarified the most important reasons that indicate sexual harassment in a workplace are: the attractive style of talking with men, being silent on the beginning of harassment and striking clothes. The study also found the best ways to deal with harassment when it happens are: threating the harasser, make a formal complaint against the harasser, and report to the manager directly. Also, the study showed that the awareness of sample about sexual is low. Moreover, the sample prefer to talk to their children personaly and illustrate to them using media programs. According to the previous results, suggestions have been made to face and reduce sexual harassment in workplace.