A Case Study on Sexual Harassment (Coursework Sample)

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A case study on sexual harassment
Sexual harassment has for decades on end bedevilled societies all over the world given its complexity especially at work places. Different countries have come up with varied measures of tackling this vice while others have remained quite reluctant to accord this menace the seriousness it deserves. The United States for instance sat on the fence over this issue for quite a long period of time up until 1964 when it passed the Civil Rights Act. This piece of legislation provided the legal framework through which cases relating to sexual harassment would be prosecuted. This major milestone not withstanding; the multifaceted social ill of sexual harassment which encompasses acts such as issuing verbal derogatory and explicit comments, unwarranted physical advances such as touching, grabbing and even groping of members of the opposite sex have continued to be reported in various establishments countrywide.
The most prominent sexual harassment case tried after the enactment of the Civil Rights Act would be the Mitsubishi motors sexual harassment case of 1996 which was tried at the district court for the central district of Illinois pitting the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against the Mitsubishi motor manufacturing of America (MMMA), a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate; Mitsubishi motors. This case rose to national prominence given the delicate and sensitive issues which came to the fore during the course of its trial coupled with the monumental figure of $200 million in punitive damages sought for by the plaintiff. The EEOC had earlier prosecuted several sexual harassment cases including two involving Del Laboratories Inc. and Sears Roebuck and Co. whose stakes were however not as high as that of Mitsubishi motors.
Economic activities which involve the use of technical skillsets and expertise especially in the manufacturing and telecommunication fields have always been male dominated since the industrial revolution. The entry of women into such fields have been embraced with a lot of scepticism and a generally condescending attitude given the fact that the male gender always deemed the female entry an invasion of their domain. This sorry state of affairs greatly contributed to the clamour for gender parity which degenerated to the battle of the sexes.
Among the grievances raised by the complainants in the suit included being referred to as whores, sluts, bitches while having to contend with obscene sketches of genital organs and some of their names inscribed on unpainted cars including some rather unfortunate graffiti on restroom walls just to mention a few. Such colloquial acts to a great extent serve to illustrate the dictates of the concept of male chauvinism.
The concept of male chauvinism basically holds an overly romanticised and exaggerated belief in the superiority of the male gender over their female counterparts. A lot of efforts have been put towards the demystification on this largely baseless myth which can be directly pointed at to have fuelled most of the acts of gender biasness in the society. Given the fact that Mitsubishi motors was a Japanese company and most of its top level managers at the Normal, Illinois based subsidiary were Japanese, the reluctant and rather casual manner with which cases of sexual assault and harassment were received in the company do not come as a surprise given their mother country’s weak regulation against the same.
Most female workers at the plant felt sexually harassed by the hostile working environment created by their male counterparts, the fact that the terms of their employment were unfairly conditioned because of their gender not to mention the unfortunate incidences were some female employees were forced to resign as a result of the poor working conditions. These discrepancies coupled with the management’s failure to take punitive measures against perpetrators of the grossly inhumane acts best exemplify the concept of male chauvinism and superiority since subscribers to this chauvinistic line of thought tend to look down upon members of the female gender as weak and inferior beings.
The Japanese conglomerate’s response to the raging media frenzy which was taken over by members of the civil society also serves to clear any doubt of a male chauvinist outfit. Compelling employees to aggressively defend the conglomerate from media attacks which were directly responsible for the dwindling fortunes of the company both in the electronic and print media, carrying out company sponsored demonstration while dismissing the chilling allegations made in court worsened things for the company which was already going through an image crisis. The move by the company’s counsel to request for a gag order from the court to ostensibly prevent the victim’s counsel from releasing pieces of evidence to various media outlets which fell on deaf ears also demonstrates quite a chauvinistic approach of denial and censorship.
The Japanese conglomerate MMMA ought not to have found itself in such a precarious position given the competitive nature of the motor vehicle manufacturing industry where a single error of omission would ha...