Abstract:
This study examined the sexual harassment policies of two higher educational
institutions in Ghana and investigated how the sexual harassment policy documents
have contributed to the understanding of the concept of sexual harassment of male
lecturers in the two higher educational institutions namely University of Education,
Winneba and University of Ghana, Legon. The study also investigated the reasons
why the male gender is often alleged as the perceived perpetrator in instances of
sexual harassment. Data for the study were qualitatively gathered through in-depth
interviews from eight purposively selected participants from the University of
Education, Winneba (UEW), and the University of Ghana, Legon (UG). Additional
data were gathered from a review of policy documents on sexual harassment from
both institutions. The data were thematically analysed drawing on a conceptual
framework design from the sexual harassment policy documents of the two
universities, the concept of gender stereotype and principles of the Organisational
Model. The data revealed two contradictory findings: implicit comprehension and
explicit comprehension of the concept of sexual harassment. The male is perceived
as the perpetrator of sexual harassment because women are being defined as sexually
passive; trivialising and normalising incidence of sexual harassment; defining
manhood as perceived aggression and masculinity and access to unequal power. The
study concludes that gender stereotyping is reinforced in the reasons why the male
gender is perceived as the perpetrator and policy documents of universities implicitly
contributesto these perceptions. The study recommendsthat institutions periodically
update sexual harassment policies with data from incidence of sexual harassment
since understanding these documents have implications in avoiding the enactment
of any form of sexual harassment.
Description:
A Dissertation in the Department of Communication and Media Studies,
Faculty of Foreign Languages Education and Communication, Submitted to the
School of Graduate Studies, In Partial Fulfilment
of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree Of
Master of Philosophy
(Communication and Media Studies-Business Communication)
In The University of Education, Winneba
JULY, 2020