Not enough is being done to tackle sexual harassment at the workplace, despite the implementation of the Act of Gender Equality in Employment (性別工作平等法) nearly 20 years ago, the Modern Women’s Foundation said on Saturday last week.
Employers should do more to make workplaces safe for both genders, including by implementing harassment prevention measures, and should have proper procedures in place to follow up on reports of harassment, it said.
A survey conducted by the foundation showed that only about half of the sexual harassment cases reported over the past two years involved bosses or supervisors, and nearly 40 percent had not been satisfactorily resolved.
Of the 447 cases referred to the foundation since 2020, 226 cases — or 48.2 percent — involved workplace harassment and 87.9 percent were reported by women, the foundation said.
Of the 226 workplace harassment cases, 18.6 percent involved bosses as alleged perpetrators, while 33.3 percent of alleged perpetrators were supervisors, it said.
This showed that at least half of all sexual harassment cases in the workplace involve employers or workplace seniors harassing employees who work for them, it added.
The foundation gave an example of a woman whose boss made her feel uncomfortable.
“As I was leaving the office he invited me to dinner to talk about work-related things, but during dinner he only asked me about my boyfriend,” the foundation quoted the woman as saying. “He told me women should not give themselves away so easily. I was totally unsure how to respond.”
Another woman complained that her supervisor had commented on her breasts, it said, calling it a common scenario reported by female employees.
The foundation said that in its discussions with the management teams of companies, it found a “serious lack of gender sensitivity.”
Managers often thought that sex-related humor “helps to liven up the workplace atmosphere” and that physical interaction with employees was acceptable, it said.
“Many managers are not even aware of their company’s process for handling harassment cases. They tend to discuss the issue in private with the victim, which causes secondary harm,” the foundation said. “Even when there are personnel tasked with handling such scenarios, they might be reluctant to take action for fear of reprisal.”
Some companies have preventative measures in place that fall short of legal requirements, it said.
Others would do little more than to play a 10-minute sexual harassment awareness video for new employees, it added.
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant
Beijing’s recent provocative actions against the Philippines in the South China Sea were partly meant as a “dress rehearsal” for the invasion of Taiwan, former US deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger said at a Heritage Foundation forum in Washington on Tuesday. Beijing’s blocking of a Philippine resupply mission on June 17 with unprecedented violence had multiple implications. “What they’re doing is trying to demonstrate that they can blockade, create a sense of futility and discredit the idea that the United States is going to help not only the Philippines, but by extension Taiwan,” Pottinger said. Pottinger was referring to a clash