Harassment in Workplace (Financial Accounting 2)

A report on
Harassment in Workplace
Prepared for: Dr. Nazma Ara Hussain
Professor, Institute of Business Administration
University of Dhaka
Prepared by: Md. Warishul Islam( Roll 50)
Anjali Sarker (Roll 77)
Mahbubur Rahman Tturza (Roll 79)
(GROUP NO. 3)
BBA 17th batch (Section B)
Institute of Business Administration
University of Dhaka
Date of submission: December 7, 2009

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December 7, 2009
Dr. Nazma Ara Hussain
Professor
University of Dhaka
Dhaka-1000
Subject: Submission of report on “Harassment in Workplace”
Dear Madam,
This is our pleasure to submit this report named “Harassment in Workplace” as a course requirement of
Financial Accounting II. As you have guided, we prepared this report based on interviews of employees
from different organizations. We tried our best to diversify the sources and to capture a neutral view of
the topic. As the subject is a bit sensitive, we have given our full efforts to overcame the constraints, find
out the real scenario and make the report as well as informative and analytical.
We hope you would find this report up to your expectation. It would be our pleasure to answer any query
on our report, if there is so.
Sincerely yours,
Md. Warishul Islam (Roll no 50)
Anjali Sarker (Roll no 77)
Mahbubur Rahman Turza (Roll no 79)
Section B, BBA 17th batch
University of Dhaka
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Acknowledgement
At the very beginning, we would like to express our gratitude towards our honorable professor, Dr.
Nazma Ara Hussain, who allowed us to encroach into her precious time frequently and take her advice
regarding our ideas about the report topic and survey.
We have taken help from a number of employees working in Unilever Bangladesh, Bank Asia, BRAC,
CARE Bangladesh, GDS Chemical Bangladesh Ltd.and SINGER. We are grateful to them for their kind
support.
We also thank Ms. Shireen Ferdous(Advocate, Supreme court of Bangladesh) for helping us to
understand the legal aspects.
We would like to give very special thanks to the seniors of different batches who supported us a lot to
manage the appointments in different organizations. Thank you all.
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Table of contents
Name of the topic Page no.
Executive summary ……………………………………………………………………………… 6
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Origin of the report ……………………………………………………………………. 7

1.2 Background ……………………………………………………………………………..... 7
1.3 Objectives …………………………………………………………………………………. 7
1.4 Scope ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 7
1.5 Limitations ……………………………………………………………………………….. 8
1.6 Methodology …………………………………………………………………………….. 8
1.7 Literature review ……………………………………………………………………… 8
CHAPTER TWO: COMPANY OVERVIEW
2.1 UNILEVER ………………………………………………………………………………... 10

2.2 BANK ASIA ………………………………………………………………………………. 10
2.3 SINGER BANGLADESH LTD. …………………………………………………….... 10
2.4 BRAC ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 11
2.5 CARE ………………………………………………………………………………………... 11
2.6 GDS CHEMICAL BANGLADESH (PVT) LTD. ………………………….......... 12
CHAPTER THREE: SUMMARY OF THE INTERVIEWS
3.1 A MNC: Performance is everything …………………………………………….. 13

3.2 Bank: Nature of the job makes it safe …………………………………………. 13
3.3 Electronic appliance selling: Desk work and CSR ………………………... 14
3.4 Largest NGO: Struggling to stop harassment ………………………………. 14
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3.5 An exception: Positive discrimination ………………………………………... 15
3.6 Only the receptionist is female! ........................................................................ 16
CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
4.1 Workplace environment ……………………………………………………………. 17

4.2 Misconception about harassment ……………………………………………….. 17
4.3 Policy of organizations ………………………………………………………………. 17
4.4 An overall analysis …………………………………………………………………….. 17
CHAPTER FIVE: HARASSMENTS AND ABUSES IN WORKPLACE
5.1 Harassment: Extreme form of discrimination ……………………………. 18

5.2 Types of workplace harassment ……………………………………………….. 19
5.2.1 Bullying………………………………………………………………………… 20
5.2.2 Deformation of character ……………………………………………... 20
5.2.3 Psychological harassment …………………………………………….. 20
5.2.4 Sexual harassment ……………………………………………………….. 20
5.3 Consequence of harassment……………………………………………………… 20
CHAPTER SIX: LAWS AGAINST HARASSMENT …………………………………….. 23
CHAPTER SEVEN: CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………… 24
REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………………………………. 25
ANNEXURE:
1. A list of the interviewees and their contact no.

2. Sample questionnaire used for interview
3. Detail interviews with answers
4. Sample guideline for a company
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The history of discriminating women is as old as human civilization itself. Even, in the 21 st century,
discrimination is everywhere. Though the culture is changing, women are breaking the chain and steeping
outside in the world, discrimination is still a common phenomenon. An extreme form of discrimination is
harassment, which is making numerous women‟s lives traumatic. The patriarchic society still considers
discrimination as a common practice and tradition. To many of the people, harassment is not that much
“serious” unless it threatens one‟s life. Gender awareness is very low in the society, even women
themselves are not aware of their rights. That is why they bear all the pain by themselves, on which they
have no responsibility at all.
To find out the harassment practices in workplace six organizations were surveyed. The organizations are
of different types and the employees were chose from different levels to maintain the diversity and get a
general view of the situation going on. From the interviews, the most noticeable fact is, male and female
employees have contradictory views towards discrimination and harassment. While the male employees
do not have much knowledge about it and address it as a trivial matter to be discussed, female employees
focus on the issue with enough importance and express how hard they are trying to eradicate all kinds of
harassment prevailing in the workplace. However, as the men are not that much cooperative and aware
about this issue, it is difficult to stop harassment and maintain a fair and friendly environment. Another
interview of a lawyer was taken who informed that there are several laws like CEDAW, which can help
the women to a great extent in the fight against harassment. However, as nobody bothers about the
implementation of the law, harassments continue to occur and the silent cry of women goes on.
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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Origin of the report:
The report was assigned by Dr. Nazma Ara Hussain to group number 3, Section B, BBA 17 th batch as a
course requirement for Financial Accounting II. After submitting the proposal and tentative outline of the
report, she went through all the papers thoroughly, made necessary corrections and finally gave the
instructions about the interviews and the report. According to her instructions, changes have been made
several times and finally the report was completed.
1.2 Background:
It has been more than two thousand years, since men started to dominate the world. In fact, the legacy of
patriarchic society is as old as the human civilization itself. There is an invisible but distinct boundary,
which has divided the humankind into two separate groups, in every aspect. Men rule and women are
ruled, that is the tradition. Consequently, injustice and discrimination is everywhere. The wheel of human
civilization is moving forward, but even in this 21st century, we continue to live in a world where among
1.2 billion people living in poverty, 70% are women. Where women work two-thirds of the world's
working hours and produce half of the world's food, they earn only 10% of the world's income and own
less than 1% of the world's property. Unbelievable, but the reality is, women are the only oppressed ones
in the world who live in intimate association with their oppressors!
When it comes to the issue of harassment or abuse, sadly most women have a story. Surprisingly,
little is unique in the incidents of humiliation and suffering. More or less every woman
experiences with degradation, whether physical, verbal or emotional. These invariably reflect a
pattern of those in power taking advantage of those without. The silent cry goes on, from
generation to generation, centuries to centuries.
1.3 Objectives:
The main objectives of this report is-

To get a real scenario of discrimination prevailing in workplace
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To find out the harassment practices women endure while working
To make a solution of the silent problem faced by women
1.4 Scope:
The report is based on interviews taken in different organizations and with different level employees.
As the basis of the report is interview, it heavily relies on personal judgment and perception towards
harassment. The important fact is, most of the time, men and women think from very different perspective
in the question of discrimination and harassment, which results in a bit contradiction. Besides, the report
focuses on the harassments occurring inside the office only and does not cover harassments of “Blue
collar” female employees or women working in rural areas.
1.5 Limitations:
The issue of harassment is very much sensitive and the employees showed negative attitude
towards it. They were also very reluctant to share their personal experiences.
As an occurrence of harassment is a black spot on the reputation of an organization, the
employees did not share any case of harassment in detail that took place in their office.
The male interviewees were not aware about the issue of harassment very much and confessed
that most of the men think it is a trivial matter to be discussed.
1.6 Methodology:
The report mostly uses primary data as a source of information. A total of six head offices of
different organizations were visited for collecting information and taking interviews. All of the
offices were in Dhaka city. So rather than calling the interviewees on phone, group members
visited them personally in the offices and took their interviews.
As the primary data was not enough to get the whole scenario and there were contradictions
between the male and female employees, the group members thoroughly went through the
available sources of secondary data sources like newspaper articles, magazines, special
supplements published on Women‟s day, books on feminism and the internet.
1.6 Literature Review:
 Seven students of Institute of Business Administration of the final year conducted a research on
“Existence of Glass Ceiling for women in the corporate world of Bangladesh” in 2008.
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Research methodology:
Survey distributed to several women served as the primary source of their data collection
Interviews of top level women managers and women right activists
Information from website, books and journals were used as secondary data
Findings:
Women face problem traveling at different places

Organizations ignore the welfare of women because of poor participation of women in corporate
world
Role of women is stereotyped
Women face adverse effects of grapevine
Managing both the family and career is difficult for women
Being unable to work for late hours is hindering women‟s careers.
 Three students of BRAC University of third year of the economics department conducted a
research on “Women Entrepreneurs and corporate women in Bangladesh”. We are unable to
reveal their identities because of the copyright policy of BRAC University.
Research methodology:
Survey based on Questionnaire distributed to working women:

Interview of prominent entrepreneurs
The survey included a wide range of sectors and industries ranging from pharmaceuticals to
automobile and ready-made garments sector
Findings:
From the research, they found out that the overall social perspective towards working women is
changing. Families and husbands of working women have now become more supportive than
before
Despite much advancement, mental harassment of women in the work place is still rampant.
The male coworkers are now more comfortable working with women and the overall attitude
towards them is gradually changing for the better.
There is reluctance from male workers to receive orders from female bosses. The notion of ego
clash is still widely prevalent.
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Organizations often do not put enough emphasis towards the career development of women
compared to that of male employees.
CHAPTER TWO: COMPANY OVERVIEW
2.1 Unilever:
Over the the last four decades, Unilever Bangladesh has been constantly bringing new and excellent
products for the Bangladeshi people to remove the daily drudgery of life. Over 90% of the country‟s
households use one or more of our products. It is a Fast Moving Consumer Goods company with local
manufacturing facilities, reporting to regional business groups for innovation and business results.
In Unilever Bangladesh, the share of Unilever is 60.75% and the rest belongs to Government of
Bangladesh.
The main product lines are-Household Care, Fabric Cleaning, Skin Cleansing, Skin Care, Oral Care, Hair
Care, Personal Grooming, Tea based Beverages etc.
Unilever Bangladesh provides employment to over 10,000 people directly and through its dedicated
suppliers, distributors and service providers. 99.5% of UBL employees are locals and it has equal number
of Bangladeshis working abroad in other Unilever companies as expatriates.
2.2 Bank Asia:
Bank Asia Ltd. is a scheduled commercial bank in the private sector established under the Banking
Company Act 1991 and incorporated in Bangladesh as a public limited company under the Companies
Act 1994 to carry out banking business in Bangladesh.
”To assist in bringing high quality service to our customers and to participate in the growth and expansion
of our national economy”- Bank Asia Limited started the journey in the year 1999 with this mission
statement. Subsequently consumer credit operation in Bank Asia Ltd started under a brand name
Coverage in the year 2006 with a vision of “Life time support to shape up your dreams”.
At present, Bank Asia has 35 branches around the country.
2.3 SINGER:
Celebrating over 150 years of innovative and successful operations, SINGER is a global retailer of not
just Sewing products, but a wide range of consumer products for the home. SINGER remains the leading
manufacturer and marketer of Sewing Machines worldwide, and is one of the most widely recognized and
established brands in the world. SINGER's distribution network spans over 150 countries, including
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developed, developing and emerging economies. SINGER is a global marketing and distribution
company offering wide range of consumer‟s durable products and arguably the world‟s only network of
its kinds.
SINGER began its operation in this part (present Bangladesh) of the world that is British India, in the
early twentieth century. After the emergence of Bangladesh, operation was limited as a branch company
until 1979, SINGER Bangladesh limited registered as an operating company. The share holding position
of the company is 80% SINGER Sewing Machine LTD., USA and 20%local shareholders. Today
SINGER is a household name having confidence in its product by the consumers and is one of the leading
manufacturing and marketing company in the country in consumer durable goods.
2.4 BRAC:
BRAC is a development organization founded by Fazle Hasan Abed in February 1972. After the
liberation of Bangladesh, BRAC acted as the initiator and catalyst for many innovations and change. Over
the years, BRAC has established itself as a pioneer in recognising and tackling the different dimensions of
poverty.
Today, BRAC is the largest NGO in South Asia and employs more than 100,000 people, the majority of
which are women, and reaches more than 110 million people with its development interventions in Asia
and Africa.
The vision of BRAC is creating just, enlightened, healthy and democratic societies free from hunger,
poverty, environmental degradation and all forms of exploitation based on age, sex, religion and ethnicity.
Today in Bangladesh alone, BRAC works to combat poverty in 70,000 villages and 2000 slums, and
reaches three quarters of the entire population with an integrated package of services for rural and urban
communities. We employ more than 100,000 people - microfinance officers, teachers, health staff, and
enterprise managers - to be on the very doorstep of the poorest families making our services accessible,
relevant and adaptable. We have learned over time to find the poorest of the poor - those who are destitute
and outside the reach of most NGOs - and help them rebuild their lives from scratch and achieve financial
independence.
2.5 CARE Bangladesh:
CARE Bangladesh is a part of CARE International, one of the world's largest private international
humanitarian organizations, enabling families in poor communities to improve their lives and overcome
poverty.
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CARE began work in Bangladesh in 1949 with the famous CARE packages that the Americans sent to
survivors of World War II in Europe and Asia. The plain brown boxes holding food and other essential
items were harbingers of hope.
Today, CARE is collaborating with communities, community based organizations, the Government and
national NGOs to identify and confront root causes of the poverty. CARE's programs focus on
agriculture, education, health, water and sanitation, nutrition, infrastructure and small enterprise
development, reaching around 12 million people in 64 districts of Bangladesh. In the fiscal year July 2004
to June 2005, the total value of our program was over US$ 28 Million. More than 95% of our expended
resources support program activities, and less than 5% go toward support services or administration.
2.6 GDS Chemicals Bangladesh (Pvt) Ltd:
GDS Chemical Bangladesh (Pvt.) Ltd. (GDS is the leading supplier of chemicals to the garments washing
(fabric preparation) industry in Bangladesh. We hold the maximum of the market share. GDS is a joint
venture company between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Established as a limited company, GDS has been
operating in the market since 1996.GDS is a sister concern of Shanta Group.
The main products of GDS Chemicals are- enzymes, several softeners, acetic acid, desizing agents,
optical brighteners, bleach etc. The major suppliers are from USA, Singapore, Taiwan, Germany, South
Korea, Indonesia, Turkey etc.
GDS people are dedicated to serve every client to satisfy their utmost needs in washing. We understand
our client‟s business and have deep expertise in their industries. The vision of GDS Chemicals is to
Supply the best quality products in a competitive prices and to support our customers to minimize their
costs.
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CHAPTER THREE: SUMMARY OF THE INTERVIEWS
3.1 A MNC: Performance is everything
Interviewee: Nafees Anwar
Designation: Senior brand manager
Organization: Unilever Bangladesh
Contact no. : 01713061818
Interview summary: Unilever believes that the passion of their people is their greatest strength. That is
why they say, “People First”. The organization tries to provide opportunities for its entire people to
pursue their careers goals develop professionally and maintain a healthy balance between their
professional and personal lives. The company claims to be committed to its people and believes that
diversity makes it stronger, through individuals working together to deliver outstanding results. The
interviewee claimed strongly that there is no discrimination at all in Unilever.
However, it is only one side of a coin. When asked about the harassment issue, he replied that as far he
knows there is no formal complaint. He also pointed out that considering the small number of women in
office it will be quite difficult to find out the harassment cases. If there is any, the victim will consider it
as her personal issue and feel ashamed to disclose it.
3.2 Bank: Nature of the work makes it safe
Interviewee: Athoi Rahman
Designation: Banking officer
Organization: Bank Asia
Contact number: 01712601660
Interview summary: As well as any other bankers, the employee from Bank Asia also believes that
banking profession is very safe for a woman and there is less scope of harassment because of the specific
work hour, defined schedule, opportunity of working at desk only, structured work and so on. In case of
delayed work hour, the boss will take care of his female employee‟s security, which is the practice in
Bank Asia. The authority provides security during late hours and they think it is enough.
There are a good number of women working in Bank Asia, but in the top level, there is no presence of
women. As a result, if women are harassed they have to inform it to their male boss, which often becomes
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as a matter of disgrace to them. Another thing is in case of harassment, he thinks, women executives share
their experiences with their female peers rather than make a formal complaint to their boss. Very often a
woman advises another woman to “deal with” the harassment in her own way. As they feel insecure and
are afraid of losing their good image in organization, they do not go for further action.
3.3 Electronic appliance selling: Only deskwork and CSR
Interviewee: Saikat Azad
Designation: District Manager
Organization: SINGER Bangladesh Ltd.
Interview summary: SINGER mainly runs their corporate office, regional offices and showrooms in
Bangladesh. The interviewee pointed out that though the number of female employees is a bit high in the
corporate office, it is quite difficult for women to work as shop managers. He specifically said that, there
are 89 shop managers working presently but among them only 2 are women. He pointed out that women
face many difficulties working outside. Therefore, the company tries to give them deskwork as much as
possible. There is a sewing academy as a CSR activity of SINGER and many women are working there.
However, when it comes to work in a shop as a manager, women face many problems. They find it
difficult to collect the installments from the customers; they are neglected and can be easily threatened.
Very often the male employees shows reluctance to receive an order from a female superior, he
mentioned that.
The interviewee thinks that there is no harassment and discrimination in the offices. Nevertheless, apart
from the deskwork, it is really hard for women to work outside with different people and deal with them
because of the negative attitude of the people. In that level, there can be some harassment, he thinks.
3.4 Largest NGO in South Asia: Struggling to deal with harassment
Interviewee: Nayla Chowdhury
Designation: HR Officer
Organization: BRAC
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Interview summary: BRAC is an organization, which always focuses on women empowerment and
believes in equality. From the rural level workers to the top-level management, there is presence of
women. BRAC gives extra facilities to the female employees as much as possible. In terms of maternity
leave, transport facilities, accommodation during field visit, day care centre facility etc BRAC always try
to be some steps ahead than other organizations.
The interviewee thinks that there is harassment practices in almost every organization. She emphasizes
that the tendency of harassing women is partially a consequence of social system dominated my male. It
is totally an individual‟s characteristics and fault if he tends to harass another woman. Nevertheless, she
also figures out that the organization can play a great role in checking discrimination and harassment
practices within the organization. In BRAC, there is special gender unit for handling these discrimination
and harassment issue. There is also a gender policy of BRAC for protecting the women and maintaining a
healthy working environment. In spite of all these efforts, she confesses, there are harassment incidents
taking place. However, she also mentioned that in other organization, these types of occurrences are much
higher. However, as there is no significant procedure to handle it, the cases are not revealed.
3.5 An exception: Positive discrimination
Interviewee: Rita Roselin Costa
Designation: Coordinator-Empowerment
Organization: CARE Bangladesh
Interview summary: CARE emphasizes on women empowerment so much that they tries to create a
positive discrimination for women. As an example- for promotion to a higher level, if there is only one
post and two equally qualified candidates for that post (one male and female), the female employee will
get the promotion. This happens according to the company policy, the interviewee says. She figured out
that there are many facilities that are given for female employees specially.
There are special gender cell in CARE office and there is a hotline where anyone can call and complain
about harassment and discrimination she faced in workplace. The system is very effective and it becomes
easy for the HR department to take action, said the interviewee. However, she also agrees that much
harassment is taking place in workplaces, but very few of them are disclosed.
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3.6 Only the receptionist is female!
Interviewee: Mr. Quamrul Mohammad Manjur,
Designation: DGM (Finance)
Organization: GDS Chemical Bangladesh (Pvt.) Ltd
Interview summary: In the head office, there are about 40 employees. All but the two receptionists are
male!
When asked about the reason of choosing a female receptionist, the interviewee said, they employed male
person as receptionist but he was not that efficient. He informed that, the organization deals with
chemicals. Therefore, they mostly recruit textile engineers. In Bangladesh, so far there has been a
tremendous shortage of female textile engineers. In the marketing sector, female are discouraged to apply
because they have to do field work. They also have to deal with different chemicals that are not suitable to
them. In the time of recruitment, the female candidates are informed about the difficulties and eventually
they decide not to join.
In finance, the organization gives preference to male. So often, they need to handle cash, deposit huge
sum of money in the bank that seems to be risky for female. As they have less desk job, and most of the
tasks are related to fieldwork, male are preferred.
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CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
4.1 Workplace environment: The workplace often seems to be neutral, but most of the cases the real
scenario is a bit different. Very few organizations have their own gender unit. As a result, the victims
cannot make complaints. Most of the organizations prefer to report anything unfair to the respective
bosses. However, if the boss is male or the boss himself is the harasser, the victim does not have anything
to do.
4.2 Misconception about harassment: In this case, there is a significant contradiction among the
male employees and female employees. A huge number of men think that there is no such discrimination
or harassment in workplace. But the female think in a different way. As they themselves are the victims,
they think that harassments are going on every day. However, the occurrences are not revealed because of
the question of an individual‟s reputation and image. No woman wants other people to know about such a
“shameful” thing, and try to deal with it of their own.
4.3 Policy of the organizations: The policy of an organization can control harassments to a great
extent. Because of the women friendly policy of the NGO‟s, female employees working there can enjoy
many facilities and they have scope to complain. However, other organization, where profit making is
everything, the incidents of harassments never is disclosed.
4.4 An overall analysis:
The harassment practices in organizations is prevailing more or less everywhere

Most of the time, women do not complain formally as they are afraid of losing their reputation
The male employees are not very gender conscious and think harassment is totally incidental
Even some men think that women lack of competence and that is why some discrimination takes
place
The female employees are aware of the presence of harassment
Most of the female employees do not inform the incident to the authority due to various reasons
and try to handle everything by themselves
There are social prejudice which indirectly paves the way for discrimination and harassment
The role of organization is vital to stop harassment practices, but very few are doing so
There are specific laws for employee safety in workplace, but very few organization bother to
follow them
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CHAPTER FIVE: HARASSMENTS AND ABUSES IN WORKPLACE
5.1 Harassment: An extreme form of discrimination
Any insult or inappropriate remark, joke, insinuation and comment on a person‟s dress, physique, age,
family situation, etc; a condescending or paternalistic attitude with sexual implications undermining
dignity; any unwelcome invitation or request, implicit or explicit, whether or not accompanied by threats;
any lascivious look or other gesture associated with sexuality; and any unnecessary physical contact such
as touching, caresses, pinching or assault can be considered as HARASSMENT.
Source: Committee of Experts: Special survey on the application of Convention No. 111 on
Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (Geneva, ILO, 1996), p. 16.
A variety of behavior is designated as sexual harassment in the different measures, which proscribe it.
These range from some of the most egregious behavior prohibited by the criminal law — rape, sexual
assault — to conduct which can, in certain circumstances, be an innocuous part of day-to-day interaction
— comments, jokes, physical contact. The kinds of conduct characterized as sexual harassment in the
measures reviewed in Chapters II to V of this paper can be categorized as physical, verbal and non-verbal
conduct. Each category encompasses a wide range of actions, some of which are illustrated below.
Examples of sexual harassment
Physical conduct
• Physical violence
• Physical contact, e.g. touching, pinching
• The use of job-related threats or rewards to solicit sexual favors
Verbal conduct
• Comments on a worker‟s appearance, age, private life, etc.
• Sexual comments, stories and jokes
• Sexual advances
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• Repeated social invitations
• Insults based on the sex of the worker
• Condescending or paternalistic remarks
Non-verbal conduct
• Display of sexually explicit or suggestive material
• Sexually-suggestive gestures
• Whistling
Source: M. Rubenstein: “Dealing with sexual harassment at work: The experience of industrialized
countries”, in Conditions of Work Digest: Combating sexual harassment at work, Vol. 11, No. 1,
1992, p. 11.
Certain of these kinds of behavior are inherently offensive: those involving physical violence or verbal
aggression are the most obvious examples. However, others mentioned above could, depending on the
circumstances, be entirely harmless. Physical contact, for example, may be strongly objected to, tolerated
or encouraged; jokes offensive to one person may be appreciated by another; the same comment may be
welcomed, tolerated, or considered offensive depending on the relationship between the individuals
involved, the context in which it was made, or even the tone in which it was delivered. Additionally, the
kinds of behavior considered sexually harassing appear to vary among different cultures.
5.2 Types of harassment
There is a popular misconception that only physical or sexual conducts can be considered as harassments
and all the other “things” are simply joke. But, there is no obligation that an incident of harassment has to
be sexual. Such conduct can take many forms ranging from physical assaults or threats, sexual coercion or
blackmail (known as quid pro quo harassment, which means “this for that”) to the creation of a hostile
work environment. The latter could include demeaning or inappropriate language (including body
language) or actual physical conduct.
There are many types of harassments. Such as-
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5.2.1 Bullying
Bullying is a complex phenomenon of unwanted offensive and malicious behavior, which undermines an
individual or group through persistently negative attacks. Typically, an unpredictable and irrational abuse
of power or position can manifest itself in physical, verbal or non-verbal forms. There is usually an
element of vindictiveness attached to bullying and the behavior is calculated to undermine, patronize,
humiliate, intimidate or demean the recipient.
5.2.2 Deformation of character (DOC) Harassment

This type involves making up rumors, telling lies and general character assassination. It can ruin your
credibility and destroy your good standing in school, work or society. This type of harassment is very
effective, and has been quoted as killing without firing a single bullet.
5.2.3 Psychological Harassment

Psychological harassment is vexatious behavior that manifests itself in the form of conduct, verbal
comments, actions or gestures characterized by the following four criteria:
They are repetitive

They are hostile or unwanted
They affect the person‟s dignity or psychological integrity, and
They result in a harmful work environment.
5.2.4 Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment refers to unwanted behavior of a sexual nature. It includes unwanted attention of a
sexual nature that denigrates, ridicules, or is intimidating. This may be physical, ranging from unwanted
touching, groping or the invasion of personal space to sexual assault, rape or indecent exposure. Sexual
harassment can be verbal and may include unwanted personal comments or sexual slurs, belittling,
suggestive, lewd or abusive remarks, explicit „jokes‟, and compromising invitations, including demands
for sexual favors. Examples of non-verbal sexual harassment include suggestive looks, leering, explicit
gestures, sending sexually explicit emails or the display of pornographic material at workplace
5.3 Consequences of harassment
Harassment attacks and hits on many levels. Just like the types and symptoms of harassment, the effects
are wide ranged and varying. Harassed individuals may experience some to all of these effects, and they
may encounter them from minor to extreme degrees. It is important to understand the range of symptoms
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that harassment can cause. Harassment victims who are aware of their symptoms can seek out help, or
take action to deal with the symptom. Friends and family who understand the effects of harassment are
also able to offer better support and understanding.
Most of the harassment incidences left a direct or indirect impact on the victims‟ productivity. Usually,
they feel sad, emotionally perturbed, acute shameful and embarrassed. This led to an inability to
concentrate, fear, anxiety, depression and hopelessness.
ANGER
Harassment makes one feel angry. A woman feels justified anger about being treated in such an inhumane
way. She feels a desire to make the harassers feel what she is feeling, to let them know the pain and
suffering she is experiencing.
DENIAL
The first stage of harassment is shock and then denial. It is complete denial, not because one wants to
deny the situation is happening, but because one cannot believe that it is happening to her.
Before the harassment a woman may has been a fully in control person, who was cared for and even
respected. Harassment makes the victim feel powerless; it makes her feel that the control of her
circumstances and her surroundings has been taken away from her. Some victims blame themselves for
not confronting the harasser.
DEGRADATION
Harassment makes a woman feel degraded. Victims of harassment often feel demeaned, debased,
devalued, degraded, humiliated and embarrassed. Harassers tell lies, make up rumors, defame one‟s
character, try to make one seem crazy, unstable, or even incompetent to do one‟s job.
DOUBT
when a woman is harassed it causes her to wonder why she has been singled out for the harassment.
Harassed persons often feel that they should be able to handle the situation or find a suitable solution to
the harassment. Being harassed does not only cause a woman to doubt herself, but it can cause her to
doubt those around her. The people that once thought were her friends, family, or supported her find are
not who she thought they were. The institutions that were there to protect her and keep her safe fail, even
the legal system might be called into doubt if her case if not processed in a timely or just manner. She
might even find that she has doubt in God, or her normal spiritual mechanisms. Harassment can cause her
21
to doubt and disbelieve everything she once thought she knew, including herself.
ECONOMIC EFFECTS
Harassment has serious economic effects including: losing or quitting a job; demotion; quitting school
(which has future economic consequences); absenteeism; payment of legal fees or medical or consulting
fees, it can affect a woman‟s credit if her job loss causes her to fall behind on her bill payments or on her
house payments. Loss of credit can cause future difficulties as her record can take years to clear.
GUILT
if she thinks that any of her actions contributed to the harassment, she might feel deep guilt at having
brought the circumstances on herself. She might blame herself and say if only I had not. If only I had
reacted this way. Feeling guilty and blaming, she only gives the harasser power. The harasser has an equal
responsibility to cease and desist the moment she make it clear the words, behaviors, or actions are
making her uncomfortable, or they are unwelcome. Blaming herself and feeling guilty will only go so far,
and then she has to move on.
ISOLATION
Depending on the form of harassment she is experiencing the situation can leave her feeling very isolated.
If the harassment is happening at school or work, she may wish to keep the situation mineralized by not
sharing what is going on. If she is the only person experiencing the harassment, she might feel that no one
will really understand what she is going through or believe her. She might have lost her ability to trust
others early on based on their reactions.
The isolation that harassment can cause is one of the most devastating factors of being harassed. It really
makes her feel that she is going at it all alone. She feels that there is no one out there who will be able to
help or assist her, and so she suffers in silence.
LOSS OF TRUST
Harassment undermines a complainant's ability to trust others, and even trust them. This inability to trust
then has current and future repercussions. Trust is lost when a harassed individual fails to receive support,
affirmation, justice or even help to get the harassment stopped. Loss of trust can be geared towards
individuals in the situation, the institutions themselves or even the society.
22
CHAPTER SIX: LAWS AGAINST HARRASMENT
Violence against women shall be understood to encompass, but is not limited to physical, sexual
and psychological violence and includes all kinds of harassment and intimidation at work.
Source: UN Declaration on Violence against Women, 1993, Article 2.
Within the United Nations, the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace has been addressed as both a
manifestation of sex discrimination and a form of violence against women. The 1979 Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was adopted at the time when
awareness of sexual harassment was only beginning to emerge and did not therefore contain a specific
prohibition. However, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, set up under
the Convention, has since explicitly addressed the problem. It is General Recommendation of 1989
recognized sexual harassment as a form of violence against women. Three years later, in General
Recommendation No. 19 of 1992, the Committee characterized gender-based violence as a type of sex
discrimination and therefore a breach of CEDAW. The Recommendation notes “equality in employment
can be seriously impaired when women are subjected to gender-specific violence, such as harassment in
the workplace”. The Committee recommended that parties to the Treaty should take all legal and other
measures necessary to provide effective protection for women against gender-based violence, including
sexual and non-sexual harassment in the workplace. The work of the Committee was drawn on in
developing the 1993 General Assembly Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women,
which affirms that this form of violence constitutes a violation of women‟s rights and fundamental
freedoms. It defines violence against women to encompass “sexual harassment and intimidation at work”,
and calls on States to condemn it and pursue a policy to eliminate it. Harassment has also been addressed
in the human rights context. The World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna in 1993, identified
it as a human rights violation, while the Commission on Human Rights has treated it primarily as a form
of violence against women.
23
CHAPTER SEVEN: CONCLUSION
Women deserve the right to be treated as human beings, neither superior nor inferior. We all want each
member of the society to come forward and stop all kinds of harassments towards women. There are
numerous social norms and stigmas. These social norms often influence women and their families; they
give more importance to their families than their career. As such the efficiency of women decrease; they
are not able to perform at par with men and they are lagging behind. Moreover, as women move up the
organizational hierarchy they are given more responsibility. This affects the work-life balance. To
increase the participation of women in the corporate world of Bangladesh the society has to be supportive
towards workers. The families should also come forward and help women to maintain work-life balance
and move forward in their career. Above all women should raise their voice and fight directly with
harassment practices. It is the time to stop crying silently.
24
REFERENCES:
1. Conditions of work and employment program, <

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/condtrav/pdf/2cws.pdf#55>
2. ICDDRB Gender policy, < http://www.icddrb.org/index.jsp>
3. A good practice guide to gender main streaming, < http://www.carebd.org/index.php >
4. CEDAW and women: the experience of Bangladesh,
<http://www.aworc.org/bpfa/pub/sec_i/hum00001.html>
25
ANNEXURE
a) A list of the employees interviewed:
 Nafees Anwar
Senior brand manager
Unilever Bangladesh
Contact no. : 01713061818
 Athoi Rahman
Banking officer
Bank Asia
 Saikat Azad
District Manager
SINGER Bangladesh Ltd.
 Nayla Chowdhury
HR Officer
BRAC
 Rita Roselin Costa
Coordinator-Empowerment
CARE Bangladesh
26
 Mr. Quamrul Mohammad Manjur,
DGM(Finance)
GDS Chemical Bangladesh (Pvt.) Ltd
 Shireen Ferdous
Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh
b) Sample questionnaire used for interviews taken on the topic of Harassment in Workplace:
The most important fact that needs to be considered is almost all the interviewees could provide
general information about their respective organizations. However, the male employees seems to be
quite unaware of the harassment occurrences. For this reason they could not answer all the questions
in part-2 and part-3. The female ones were quite conscious about the gender issue. However, at the
same time, they did not want to share any specific information or their personal experiences. For
these reasons almost all of them skipped some questions and provided only the general views about
the sensitive issues like harassment and sexual abuse.
Part-1: General information about the workforce and female employees
1. What is the male-female ratio in your office?

2. Do you think the number of female employees is low? If yes, what is the reson?
3. In which level the number of female employees is highest?
4. In which level the number of female employees is lowest?
5. Is there any specific reason behind this variation?
Part-2: Facilities and obstacles for women
27
6. Does the organization give any special facility for the female employees? If yes, what are those?
7. What is the opinion of the women about the facilities? Are they satisfied?
8. Is there any significant difference between the facilities got by male and female employees?
9. What are the main obstacles women faces in order to pursue their career?
10. What is the reason behind these obstacles?
11. What is your personal suggestion about overcoming these obstacles?
Part-3: Discrimination and Harassment
12. Is there any discrimination in the company policy regarding female employees? (In terms of
recruitment, placement, promotion etc)
13. Have you ever heard of any incident of harassment in your office? (For male)
Have you ever faced any harassment in your office? (For female)
14. Did anyone of your colleagues share any experience of harassment with you?
15. Is there any policy of the organization regarding gender discrimination and harassment?
16. Is any situation ever occurred where a harasser got punishment? If yes, what was the punishment?
17. What is your suggestion regarding harassment practices? How can it be checked?
c) Detail interviews with answers:
UNILEVER
11:1
Yes, it is low. There is a shortage of qualified female business graduate. However, everything
depends on the recruitment process. If a woman can prove her worth there, we will never look
upon her as a woman and there is no reason of discriminating her.
Management trainee
Top level management
Not at all
28
6. Have you ever heard of any incident of harassment in your office?
No
No
Actually, the authority treats all the employees equally here and the code of conduct is same for
all. No special gender policy exists right now.
I think it is the characteristics of an individual, how will he/she treat the opposite sex. It will need
a lot of change in both the men and women to stop harassment. Unless the society gets free from
the negative attitude towards women, it will not be possible to check the problem properly.
 The interviewee himself points out that as the number of female employees in UNILEVER is
really small, it will be very difficult to find out any harassment occurrence as the probability goes
down
 If there is any such case, usually the victim will take it as a personal issue and try to deal with it
by herself
Bank Asia
60:40
The number is extremely fine comparing with other organizations
Entry level
There is no female in top level, all the directors are male
Banking profession is quite tough and needs consistency as well as good performance to make a
bright career. But many women switches their jobs in the middle of their career for various
reasons. As they cannot work consistently and fail to gather a long work experience in one place,
they lag behind.
Organization provides transport facilities in case of late hours work
29
They seems to be so, as they do not complain about it. But some of them wishes to have flexi
hours.
Nearly no
If their family members do not support them enough, it will often become very difficult to pursue
a good career. As they need to continue their career and family responsibilities side by side, it is
necessary for them to get support from all.
10. What is the reason behind these obstacles?
Mostly social stigma and traditional role of women which has been set in people‟s minds
11. What is your personal suggestion about overcoming these obstacles?

Be professional and work hard so that you can prove your worth.
No
No
No
No, usually everyone follows the general norms and code of conduct
Women should not be confined into their weak and submissive image. They need to be more
professional and dedicated to their work. If they have courage enough and raise their voices
together, it will be easier to stop harassment.
BRAC
75:25
2. Do you think the number of female employees is low? If yes, what is the reason?
BRAC tries its best to recruit as many women as possible and the number of female employees is
increasing day by day. Usually the number of female employees is low everywhere, but in
BRAC, situation is not that much bad.
30
Mid level
Top level, but there are women and they can contribute significantly in decision making process
of the company.
We try to give as much facilities as we can. There is day care centre within the head office,
transport facility and above all BRAC tries to provide security for them.
Yes, they are very satisfied.
Women gets priority to many extent, at least the organization tries to do so. From extra maternity
leave to excusing field trip during sickness, BRAC always works for women empowerment and
try to favor women.
In BRAC, there is no obstacles.
NO discrimination, rather BRAC favors the women
10. Have you ever faced any harassment in your office?
Not yet
Many of them
BRAC has separate gender policy for its employees and gender unit within HRD department.
There were cases where the harasser was terminated
Women should be aware of their rights and shed all the fear. They should report the occurrences
to proper place, so that the harasser cannot go without punishment.
31
SINGER Bangladesh Ltd.
80:20
Most of them do desk works in head office and take part in CSR programs. But while working as
shop managers, they face so many difficulties, both from the customers and peers. That is why,
women cannot survive in those positions. At present, there are only 2 female shop managers
among 89 showrooms countrywide.
In head office there are comparatively more women working in all levels.
Female are totally absent in top level management and a few are working outside Dhaka as stated
before,
Women can easily be threatened and very often the customers neglect them. Besides, they find
problems with collecting the installments. Sometimes, subordinates show reluctance to carry out
the orders of a female superior.
6. Does the organization give any special facility for the female employees?
No
Usually no
No, but in terms of risky jobs and where a lot of travelling is needed, women are discouraged to
get in.
No
No
There is no such policy
32
CARE Bangladesh
60:40
The number is really brilliant and CARE opt for taking more women
CARE maintains the male female ratio equally in all levels. There is no exception in any level,
from the entry level field workers to the board of directors
4. Is there any specific reason behind this huge participation of women?
The key factor lies in the belief of the organization. CARE targets the women and work for their
empowerment. They intentionally maintain the balance of male-female employees in everywhere
in the organization.
There are many special facility including day care, transportation, flexi hours, accommodation in
the rural level and in case of field visit, special facilities for the mothers who have small kids etc.
The organization tries to assist women as much as they can.
They are fully satisfied and it results in loyalty, faithfulness, responsibility and increased
productivity.
Yes, there are significant differences as CARE thinks that men do not need those facilities.
There are hardly any obstacles for women. Actually CARE discriminates women positively!
If a man and a woman are equally qualified for a post, the woman will get the job.
9. Have you ever faced any harassment in your office?
No
Yes, a lot. The victims are from CARE as well as other organizations
There is separate Gender Cell open for everyone and the organization also have its own gender
policy and laws.
33
There are several situations like that, but for the confidentiality issue, the interviewee did not
provide with actual documents. Though she confessed that, this types of things are going on
everywhere.
The punishment can vary from warning to termination, according to the level of harassment
A good gender policy and its implementation is a must for checking the issue. Besides, women
have to be free and shed their fears. Unless they raise their own voice, nobody will talk for them.
34
d) Sample guideline for a company
Suggestions for a company to ensure harassment free workplace
1.1 The Company shall maintain a harassment-free work environment.
1.2 For the purposes of this clause, harassment may be of a personal, sexual or racial nature. It is
defined as and may include the following:
Personal harassment is any behaviour by any person that is directed at and offensive to an
individual or threatens an individual‟s job or an individual‟s performance at work or their
economic livelihood.
Sexual harassment is any unwanted attention of a sexual nature, such as remarks about
appearance or personal life, offensive written or visual actions like graffiti or degrading pictures,
physical contact of any kind or sexual demands. It can occur either on a one-time basis or as a
series of incidents, however minor. Sexual harassment is coercive and one-sided and both males
and females can be victims.
Racial harassment is any unwanted comments, racist statements, slurs and jokes, racist graffiti
and literature, including articles, pictures and posters.
1.3 A harassment victim may lodge a harassment complaint with a Local shop steward or union
representative or any other member designated by the Local.
1.4 The shop steward or the person designated by the Local for this purpose shall investigate any
harassment complaint. The investigation procedures shall be the same as for the grievance
procedure.
1.5 It is important that any harassment complaint process be carried out in a timely fashion and on a
confidential basis.
1.6 An employee alleging harassment in the workplace has the right, after informing the supervisor or
manager, to leave the work area without loss of pay, rights or benefits, and to refuse to return to
the work area until such time as an investigation of the complaint has been undertaken.
1.7 Where applicable, the shop steward or the person designated by the Local shall follow the
grievance procedure. Grievances involving harassment shall be filed at the final step of the
grievance procedure.
35
1.8 The redress must reflect the seriousness of the harassment case. It may be an apology, a transfer to
another department or a layoff. The harasser, not the victim, must suffer the consequences of his or
her actions.
1.9 The Company will include compulsory human rights/anti-harassment training in its orientation for
new employees. This training will be co-instructed by a member of the Union Executive and will
include the CEP anti-harassment policy. In addition to the above, all existing employees, including
management, will be given the same human rights/anti-harassment training, on company time.
1.10 The Company shall pay for the Local union leadership and shop stewards to attend CEP anti-
harassment training.
Source: Canadian Communications Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP).
36

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A report on

Prepared for: Dr. Nazma Ara Hussain

Professor, Institute of Business Administration

Prepared by: Md. Warishul Islam( Roll 50)

Anjali Sarker (Roll 77)

Mahbubur Rahman Tturza (Roll 79)

BBA 17th batch (Section B)

Institute of Business Administration

Date of submission: December 7, 2009

Dr. Nazma Ara Hussain

Institute of Business Administration

Subject: Submission of report on “Harassment in Workplace”

Md. Warishul Islam (Roll no 50)

Anjali Sarker (Roll no 77)

Mahbubur Rahman Turza (Roll no 79)

Section B, BBA 17th batch

Institute of Business Administration

Name of the topic Page no.

Executive summary ……………………………………………………………………………… 6

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Origin of the report ……………………………………………………………………. 7

CHAPTER TWO: COMPANY OVERVIEW

2.1 UNILEVER ………………………………………………………………………………... 10

CHAPTER THREE: SUMMARY OF THE INTERVIEWS

3.1 A MNC: Performance is everything …………………………………………….. 13

CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

4.1 Workplace environment ……………………………………………………………. 17

CHAPTER FIVE: HARASSMENTS AND ABUSES IN WORKPLACE

5.1 Harassment: Extreme form of discrimination ……………………………. 18

CHAPTER SIX: LAWS AGAINST HARASSMENT …………………………………….. 23

CHAPTER SEVEN: CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………… 24

1. A list of the interviewees and their contact no.

1.1 Origin of the report:

The main objectives of this report is-

1.6 Literature Review:

Women face problem traveling at different places

Survey based on Questionnaire distributed to working women:

CHAPTER TWO: COMPANY OVERVIEW

2.2 Bank Asia:

At present, Bank Asia has 35 branches around the country.

2.5 CARE Bangladesh:

2.6 GDS Chemicals Bangladesh (Pvt) Ltd:

3.1 A MNC: Performance is everything

Interviewee: Nafees Anwar

Designation: Senior brand manager

Organization: Unilever Bangladesh

Contact no. : 01713061818

3.2 Bank: Nature of the work makes it safe

Interviewee: Athoi Rahman

Designation: Banking officer

Organization: Bank Asia

Contact number: 01712601660

3.3 Electronic appliance selling: Only deskwork and CSR

Interviewee: Saikat Azad

Designation: District Manager

Organization: SINGER Bangladesh Ltd.

Contact number: 01714165693