Harassment at Work
| DOI | 10.1177/026455059404100106 |
| Date | 01 March 1994 |
| Published date | 01 March 1994 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
27
PERSONAL
a
cco
u
nt
Harassment
at
Work
A
woman
probation
officer
describes
the
negative
consequences
of
seeking
to
challenge
oppressive
workplace
behaviour.
For
over
twelve
months
of
my
working
life
I
experienced
harassment
in
the
work
place.
The
purpose
of
this
article
is
not
to
rekindle
the
anger,
frustration
and
distress
of
that
period
but
to
examine
the
lessons
which
might
be
learned
on
a
personal
and
orgamsational
level.
&dquo;~~I
Briefly,
the
circumstances
of
the
harassment
grew
from
my
increasing
concerns
about
discriminatory/oppressive
comments
about
ethnic
minority
clients,
women
and,
on
one
occasion,
a
visually
impaired
student,
within
the
unit
to
which
I
had
recently
been
seconded.
As
these
comments
were
never
challenged
by
either
colleagues
or
line
managers,
it
became
an
increasingly
uncomfortable
situation
and
one
which
I
raised
with
my
managers.
As
a
result
of
this,
a
small
number
of
my
colleagues
constantly
directed
jibes
towards
me.
Although
this
was
uncomfortable
and
at
times
extremely
distressing,
I
maintained
the
determination
to
complete
my
secondment.
My
manager,
aware
of
the
situation,
raised
it
as
a
discussion
point
in
supervision
but
offered
no
further
support,
nor
did
he
appear
to
contextualise
it
in
terms
of
orgamsational
policy.
Following
an
incident
of
sexist
behaviour,
directed
towards
me
by
a
male
colleague,
I
made
a
formal
complaint
and
consequently
received
a
greater
degree
of
harassment
from
two
male
colleagues.
Again,
I
felt
I
could
’ride
the
storm’
but
an
acceleration
of
oppressive
behaviour
led
to
me
taking
a
period
of
’sick
leave’
and
requesting
a
move
to
another
work
location.
The
initial
impulse
in
taking
’time
out’
was,
of
course,
to
remove
myself
from
a
difficult
situation.
However,
other
critical
issues
were
the
sheer
disillusionment
and
lack
of
trust
I
now
felt
for
my
colleagues
and,
as
an
extension of
that,
the
organisation
I
worked
for.
For
some
time
I
experienced
a
deep
sense
of
shock
that
professionally
trained
colleagues
engaged
in
behaviour
which
was
oppressive
and
discriminatory
and,
moreover,
continued
to
do
so,
apparently
seeing
no
need
for
change
or
being
incapable
of
change.
Additionally,
my
career
plan/intentions
had
received
a
severe
blow
by
this
curtailment.
-
A
major
concern
was
to
return
to
work
as
quickly
as
possible.
However,
it
became
evident
that
there
were
few
vacancies
and
my
notions
of
continuing
my
personal
development
at
work
were
to
be
set
back.
Temporary
work
became
available
but
served,
inexplicably,
to
make
me
feel
undervalued,
reduced
to
the
ranks
of
sessional
worker
and
therefore
lacking
m
experience.
Over
the
weeks
I
was
on
’sick
leave’,
I
experienced
a
complex
web
of
emotions
and
had
no
experience
of
a
similar
situation
to
draw
on
to
overcome
them.
By
turn
I
became
depressed,
felt
worthless,
angry
that
I
should
have
had
to
leave
a
job
I
enjoyed
and
was
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