Exploring gender harassment among university teachers and researchers

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the prevalence of gender harassment and how it is related to different organisational factors, ill-health and job satisfaction among women and men working as university teachers and researchers. Design/methodology/approach – A web questionnaire was conducted in a university college in South Sweden. The final sample consisted of 322 participants, 186 women and 136 men. Findings – The results showed that gender harassment was more prevalent among women than men, and among senior lecturers and professors than lecturers. Gender harassment was associated with high job demands, less fair leadership style of the immediate manager and job dissatisfaction for both women and men. For women, there was also an association between gender harassment, ill-health and gender of the immediate manager. For men, poorer social organisational climate was related to gender harassment, but contrary to women, gender harassment was not related to the gender of the immediate manager. Research limitations/implications – Even though the research was conducted only in one university, the results imply that gender harassment can have negative consequences for teachers and researchers. As the immediate manager’s leadership style seems to be associated with the occurrence of gender harassment, universities should take this into consideration in their leadership programs. Originality/value – The paper highlights gender harassment, a subtle form of sexual harassment, among university teachers and researchers.