Var går gränsen? : Om sexuella trakasserier i arbetslivet

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to investigate how the legal protection against sexual harassment at work functions, and where to draw the line. The study is limited to focus on the sexual harassment directed at women from men, because it usually occurs that way even though only a few report the incidents. The results are discussed from a gender perspective on how the distribution of power is between men and women as a way to explain sexual harassment.Sexual harassment is currently protected by the discrimination law and the EU principle of equal treatment for men and women. For a behavior to be considered as sexual harassment it has to be unwanted by the receiving party and the person practicing the harassments must be aware that the behavior is perceived as offensive. The behavior shall be of a sexual nature and contribute to a disadvantage for the victim in the form of a violation of that persons integrity.It is the victim that determines whether the behavior is perceived as sexual harassment or not, what one person believes is a friendly behavior may be perceived as offensive by another. Therefore, it becomes difficult to know where to draw the line, it is not defined in law and it is a subjective assessment. There are some behaviors that clearly are sexual harassment, but when it's not as clear, a notice is needed to the person performing the harassments. If the behavior continues after the warning it counts as sexual harassments.It is the employer's responsibility to ensure that sexual harassment doesn’t take place in the workplace and to investigate the incidents when it occurs. Only the employer can be held accountable in court for not fulfilling its investigation duty. A worker can’t be sentenced for sexual harassment if it doesn’t involve serious crimes which are regulated in the Penal Code.Sexual harassment is usually carried out by men against women and is therefore an important gender issue. Sexual harassment must be understood from a gender power perspective and it’s a way to maintain gender power relations between the sexes, where men have the power and are superior to women. The creation of gender power relations are both conscious and unconscious and maintained from both men and women, where sexual harassment is only a small part of a larger societal problem.