Dealing Effectively with Sexual Harassment: Some Practical Lessons from One City's Experience

Abstract

Most of the literature on sexual harassment was published between 1980 and 1983, before governments and private sector employers had operationalized anti-harassment measures and practitioners had a clear sense of what policies were likely to work. Further, while there has been a good deal of attention paid to the Supreme Court's decision in Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson et. al, by the media and the legal community, there has been relatively little attention paid to this important case in public administration literature. “Dealing Effectively with Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: Some Lessons from One City's Experience” fills in some of these gaps by interpreting the City of Madison, Wisconsin's experience with the issue between 1979 and 1985. A hierarchy of problem behaviors is defined and a specific road map of approaches tested in the workplace is set forth. A brief analysis of Mentor's central findings and implications for the public administrator is provided, as well (see Section V). Of special interest is the distinction drawn between gender and sexual harassment.