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Sexual Harassment Training: Why It (Currently) Doesn’t Work and What Can Be Done

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Handbook of Interpersonal Violence and Abuse Across the Lifespan

Abstract

The #MeToo movement sparked a conversation that was mostly kept quiet: the prevalence of sexual harassment both within and outside of work. The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reported a significant increase in cases in 2018 alone. However, one would assume that because most workplaces implement anti-sexual harassment training programs, that the rates of incidents would be much lower than they are presently. This chapter presents five main reasons why traditional organizational training sessions are ineffective at ending sexual harassment at work: training is only focused on legal compliance, people expect immediate results after a single training session, employees hold negative pretraining attitudes, bystander training does not transfer as well to the workplace, and there is no effective measurement to determine if training is working. What is really needed to end sexual harassment at work is then presented: a culture and climate change. It is recommended to support victims and hold perpetrators accountable, diffuse organizational hierarchies, demonstrate consistent (high) levels of managerial support, and determine an organization’s readiness for change. Moving away from traditional trainings and moving toward culture and climate change is imperative to diminishing the prevalence of sexual harassment at work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, TN, USA

    Alexandra I. Zelin

  2. University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Vicki J. Magley

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  1. Alexandra I. Zelin
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  2. Vicki J. Magley
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexandra I. Zelin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma, San Diego, CA, USA

    Robert Geffner

  2. Department of Psychology College of Arts and Sciences, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA

    Jacquelyn W. White

  3. Department of Family and Community Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    L. Kevin Hamberger

  4. Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA

    Alan Rosenbaum

  5. Ethelyn R. Strong School of Social Work, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA, USA

    Viola Vaughan-Eden

  6. Education and Research, Zero Abuse Project, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Victor I. Vieth

Section Editor information

  1. No affiliation provided

    Sarah Cook

  2. No affiliation provided

    Tracy N. Hipp Ph.D.

  3. No affiliation provided

    Amanda Hill-Attkisson

  4. No affiliation provided

    Thema Bryant-Davis

  5. No affiliation provided

    Jacquelyn W. White Ph.D

  6. No affiliation provided

    Kevin Swartout

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Zelin, A.I., Magley, V.J. (2022). Sexual Harassment Training: Why It (Currently) Doesn’t Work and What Can Be Done. In: Geffner, R., White, J.W., Hamberger, L.K., Rosenbaum, A., Vaughan-Eden, V., Vieth, V.I. (eds) Handbook of Interpersonal Violence and Abuse Across the Lifespan. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89999-2_276

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