Impact of Sexual Harassment on Female Students’ Educational Experience in Higher Education in Quetta City

Abstract

Sexual harassment is a global phenomenon. The instances of harassment range from work place to educational institutions. Hence, sexual harassment prevails in every setting of society. But, the causes, nature and extent of harassment vary from place to place and culture. Therefore, impact of harassment on the victims also varies. There has been considerable research on the causes, prevalence and impact of harassment across the globe. The causes also vary due to different cultural contexts. Moreover, there has been legislation on international and national levels to curb this social issue but still cases of harassment pour in news from different corners of the world.     There have been cases of sexual harassment in educational institutions of Pakistan for a couple of years. Furthermore, several researches have been conducted in Pakistan to evaluate the causes and consequences of SH in work place settings, but there has not been enough research on SH in educational settings especially on the effects of SH on the academic performances of the students. Hence, the current study was conducted under the objectives of finding the impact of harassment on educational experience of females studying in higher educational institutions in Quetta city. The study also contained two other objectives i.e. prevalence of harassment in higher educational institutions of Quetta city and understanding or perception of the concept of harassment by the subject female students. Results of the study found that Sexual harassment is prevalent in the higher educational institutions of Quetta city and it affects the studies of the students considerably with varying degrees.  Finally, recommendations are also given after results and conclusion.