Survey gives shocking sexual abuse statistics

Wimbainashe Zhakata Mutare Correspondent
EIGHTY-FIVE percent of female workers in organisations in Mutare urban are being sexually harassed at work places, statistics from the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development have shown.

The ministry last month conducted a survey on sexual harassment at workplaces in Mutare urban during the commemorations of 16 days of activism against gender-based violence (GBV) that ran under the theme “Creating Zero Tolerance to Sexual Harassment in the Workplace”.

The ministry’s provincial administrative officer Mr Confidence Mungayi said 18 organisations, six of them public institutions, participated in the survey.

“During our survey 120 employees responded to questionnaires, 12 employers were interviewed and five service providers gave their input,” he said.

“A total of 18 organisations participated. Six of them were public institutions and seven were private organisations while five were service providers. The outcome of our survey showed that 87,5 percent of the participants felt that women are affected the most while 5 percent indicated that men were also affected. However, 3 percent felt both men and women are affected the most and 5,8 percent did not respond,” said Mr Mungayi.

Mr Mungayi said people with disabilities were the most harassed at workplaces, with most women failing to defend themselves against such harassment.

He said men were not spared although the level was very low.

“This indicates that women seem to remain vulnerable. Sexual harassment of men was said to be occurring even though the percentage is low.

“About a third of the respondents felt that people with disability are more prone to sexual harassment at the work places,” he said.

Mr Mungayi said the survey showed that 62 percent of organisations in Mutare urban were not aware of legal frameworks that governs gender issues.

He said 37,8 percent claimed to know about legal frameworks.

“The survey outcome shows that the most commonly cited impact of sexual harassment at work was lack of concentration, depression, lack of interest in job and isolating oneself from work colleagues,” he said.

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