In Malaysia, sexual harassment, as defined by the Employment Act 1955 Archived 11 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, is “any unwanted conduct of a sexual nature, whether verbal, non-verbal, visual, gestural or physical, directed at a person which is offensive, humiliating or a threat to their well-being”. The Act does not distinguish between male and female or employer and employee. As such, sexual harassment can be committed by a female against a male, or an employee against an employer. The earliest recorded cases of sexual harassment at the workplace or misconduct of an employer towards an employee were seen as far back as 1939, at the time when Malaysia was still Malaya under the British colonial rule. In 1941, the Klang Indian Union organised a series of strike action and as part of their demands, condemned the molestation of female workers by Europeans and ‘Black Europeans’ and demanded an end to such behaviour. In 1950, 106 women and men rubber tappers from Panavan Karupiah Estate in Perak went on strike against sexual molestation.
Prevalence of sexual harassment
Although sexual harassment happens to both men and women, women are more often victims, especially in circumstances and locations where "patriarchy is deeply ingrained as a cultural value, and the men see nothing wrong in sexually harassing women". This is consistent with the statistics from the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) between 2013 and 2017, where out of a total of 1,218 reported sexual harassment cases, 79 percent involved victims who were women while 21 percent involved male victims. In 1987, the Women's Section of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) conducted the first known survey on sexual harassment in the country. It reported that 11 to 90 per cent of the female respondents experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. However, this survey had two major flaws, and the findings were judged to be "inconclusive and not much of use". In 2001, International Labour Organization (ILO) cited two surveys of two government departments in Penang and Perlis in Malaysia, which found that 83 per cent and 88 per cent of women respondents had experienced some form of sexual harassment. There is a lack of official statistics surrounding sexual harassment in Malaysia. As a response, the 2019 YouGov Omnibus survey was launched to find out how prevalent the issue was. Over a third or 36 per cent of Malaysian women have experienced sexual harassment, compared to one in six (17 per cent) men. The survey sampled 1,002 Malaysians, and of those who faced harassment only half (53 per cent) reported or told someone about what they had to endure. The most common form of sexual harassment experienced by Malaysian women is sexual assault (59%), followed by verbal comments of a sexual nature (48%), flashing (29%) and unwanted sexualised photography or videography (20%).
Sexual harassment at the workplace Sexual harassment at the workplace is a major problem in Malaysia. The prevalence of sexual harassment in Malaysia has been studied across different settings; within the civil service, various public and private workplaces such as hospitals, hotels, small and medium businesses, as well as various higher education institutions, both public and private universities. There are also sub-groups within the general Malaysian population who are more vulnerable to sexual harassment, such as adolescents, refugees, clerical workers, staff in the service sector (hotels), sports practitioners, female plantation workers, LGBT and migrant workers.
Online sexual harassment According to the 2017 survey conducted by PeopleACT, online sexual harassment was the second highest type of cyberharassment experienced by people. Out of 522 respondents, 89 stated that they have been sexually harassed online. Twice as many women (20.9 percent) experienced online sexual harassment compared to men (9.8 percent). In 2020, with increased internet use as a side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, All Women's Action Society Malaysia (AWAM) reported many incidents of online sexual harassment that has come to their attention prior and during the movement control order. Sexual harassment cases make up 18.5 per cent of calls that comes through AWAM helpline, and from that category, online sexual harassment accounts for 41.7 per cent of these cases. As more people resorted to online media and communications as a result of social distancing, many took advantage of online anonymity and expressed their discontent through sexist jokes, comments and in some cases, sexual harassment.
Development of legal provisions
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
