WUNRN
Sexual
harassment
Spreading the message
on sexual harassment in Jordan’s garment factories
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is helping to combat sexual
harassment in garment factories in
Feature | 03 July 2013
Rania Shanti |
SAHAB, Jordan (ILO News) – Twice a week,
training specialist, Rania Shanti, visits a garment factory in the industrial
city of
She tries to create a comfortable and – crucially – confidential atmosphere
that will encourage participants to speak freely.
One of them is Indrani, a Sri Lankan woman who has worked at the factory since
2009.
“I always thought that when women spoke about being sexually harassed, they
meant they were raped. Now I understand that sexual harassment can take place
in many different forms,” she says.
"Now I understand that sexual harassment can
take place in many different forms.” |
Like Indrani, many of the workers at the
factory are foreigners – mainly from
“It’s difficult to assess sexual harassment in these factories due to the
sensitive nature of the issue and fears of reprisals among workers. It’s never
guaranteed that the workers will label themselves as being victims of sexual
harassment,” she explains.
Two years ago, allegations were made of widespread rape being committed against
workers at one of
Better Work Jordan’s own investigation found that many workers had very little
understanding of what constitutes sexual harassment – even though concerned
about it.
As a result, Better Work Jordan launched a pilot sexual harassment prevention
awareness project with Indrani’s employer, the Jerash Garment and Fashion
Manufacturing Company, which aims to teach line workers, managers and
supervisors about how to identify, prevent and report instances of sexual
harassment.
During one session held in mid-June, Indrani joined a group of shy and
soft-spoken women, who told fellow workers about being groped, having their
skirts lifted and even being sexually assaulted by taxi drivers.
"After the training, I now have a better idea
of how to deal with the situation if something happens." |
Priyadorshani, another Sri Lankan worker
at the factory, said the project helped them better understand Jordanian laws
and regulations relating to sexual harassment in the workplace.
“We are foreigners in
Shanti notes that while some relevant laws exist, the most powerful and
effective policies are those created and adopted internally by the factories,
which address all forms of sexual harassment.
“Part of the training is to help the factories create their own policy on
sexual harassment prevention. We share our model policy, which they can adapt,”
she explains. “This has had a great impact on the factory’s management, as it
has given them a great sense of responsibility where they now feel that they
are in charge of the situation and can take control.”
Sanil Kumar, the company’s compliance officer, agrees.
“The training helped the managers and supervisors on issues which they were not
aware of before, such as certain forms of sexual harassment and how to prevent
it or deal with it. And following advice from the Better Work team, we have
developed our own internal sexual harassment prevention policy for the factory
which has been adopted by the management.”
Following
advice from the Better Work team, we have developed our own internal sexual
harassment prevention policy for the factory." |
Unions are also trying to play a role
says Mervat Abdel Kareem al-Jamhawi, of the General Trade Union of Workers in
Textile, Garment and Clothing.
“We try to raise awareness of the issues among female workers in factories but
there are many challenges, such as cultural and language barriers. It is
definitely a high priority for us and we need more support from projects like
Better Work Jordan to conduct more programmes in a range of factories.”
Better Work Jordan plans to help create independent counseling and referral
systems for workers who feel sexually harassed or under threat. The pilot
project will also extend to several other factories next year – some of which
employ up to 7,000 workers from as many as eight countries.
“We will continue with our training,” says Shanti. “We will continue to spread
our message, especially to migrant workers, by telling them that they are not
victims, they are not weak. They have come from
Sexual
harassment is: |
§
Any physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of a
sexual nature and other conduct based on sex affecting the dignity of women
and men, which is unwelcome, unreasonable and offensive to the
recipient. §
Where a person’s rejection of, or submission to,
such conduct is used explicitly or implicitly as a basis for a decision which
affects that person’s job. §
Conduct that creates an intimidating, hostile or
humiliating working environment for the recipient. |