Sexual harassment in education is an unwelcome behavior of a sexual nature that interferes with a student's ability to learn, study, work or participate in school activities.
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...
encompasses a range of behavior from mild annoyances to
sexual assault
Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...
and
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...
.
[Dzeich, Billie Wright and Linda Weiner (1990). ''The Lecherous Professor: Sexual Harassment on Campus,'' University of Illinois Press.] As committed by teachers, it is often framed as "sex for grades" and has attracted media attention throughout the world, partly in connection with the
#MeToo movement.
United States
In the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, sexual harassment is a form of
discrimination
Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...
under
Title IX
Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other educat ...
of the
Education Amendments of 1972
The Education Amendments of 1972, also sometimes known as the Higher Education Amendments of 1972 (Public Law No. 92‑318, 86 Stat. 235), were U.S. legislation enacted on June 23, 1972. It is best known for its Title IX, which prohibited disc ...
.
A Yale Law School article from 2016 offers a good primer on how to restore institutional liability to sexual harassment in education
A section reads: Reporting sexual harassment to school administrations frequently becomes a distinctively damaging part of the abuse experience, termed “betrayal trauma,”90 by exacerbating and frequently exceeding the harms of the original assault. Students often identify with and trust—even love—their schools, and are dependent on them in many ways. Students frequently believe the institutions they dreamed of attending will identify with and want to help them. Uncovering and living through the slowly unfolding nightmare of its other agendas and higher priorities comes as a shock. It is remarkable how many accounts of sexual harassment in education focus on the school turning against the reporting student rather than on the sexual abuse itself. Many a student who begins the process believing in the beneficence and caring of their institution and its intentions is grievously, even viciously, disappointed.
The May 2020 revisions to title IX and the definition of sexual harassment are also a game changer for educators and past misconduct that is now considered sexual harassment.
Germany
The
Universität Bremen
The University of Bremen (German: ''Universität Bremen'') is a public university in Bremen, Germany, with approximately 23,500 people from 115 countries. It is one of 11 institutions which were successful in the category "Institutional Strateg ...
was the first university in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
to establish, in 1992, a contact point for matters regarding sexual harassment. It is generally considered that the power difference between university students and professors, who determine grades and can offer or prolong employment positions for PhD students, results in a risk of harassment. According to a
non-representative survey of 12,663 students in 2012, every fourth student reported some form of sexual harassment, and about ten percent of those cases involved harassment by teachers. Concerned students who do not want to report misbehaviour for fear of career repercussions are given advice as to how to handle the situation. For example, a doctoral student may be advised to add an external evaluator to assess their work or to request that they be assigned a different advisor.
In the mid-2010s, allegations of sexual harassment were raised against teachers in institutions of higher education in Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Munich.
Ghana and Nigeria
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
Africa Eye performed a year-long investigation into sexual harassment committed by university teachers in
. Four academics were secretly filmed as part of the investigation. It involved undercover reporters posing as students at the
. The resulting documentary was broadcast in October 2019, exposing the misconduct.
The African Feminist Initiative released a solidarity statement condemning the harassment in an institution that should offer a safe environment for learning.
Two academics were suspended from the University of Ghana for six months and four months, respectively, without salary. They were to undergo training about the university's sexual harassment and misconduct policy, to resume work only after a positive assessment, and to undergo an annual assessment for five years. Some have criticized the punishment as too lenient.
's Senate initiated the debate of a bill aiming to prevent the sexual harassment of university students.