The Effect of Sexual Harassment of Female Employees on the Level of Performance among Anambra State Civil Servants

Abstract

Sexual harassment has become an issue of global discourse. This singular actwas adjudged to be very offensive and is targeted mostly at female employeeswhich violates their fundamental human rights and reduces their dignity aswomen. Whenever sexual harassment occurs, it creates a negative scene whichharms their level of performance in the workplace. To this end, this studyfocused on the effect of sexual harassment of female employees on the level ofperformance in the Anambra State Civil Service. The study adopted thedescriptive cross-sectional survey research design. Four research questionsguided the study. Role identity theory was adopted as the theoretical frameworkof the study. The sample size for the study was 180 female employees who wereselected through the proportionate stratified random sampling technique. Datafor the study were collected through questionnaire administration and datacollected were processed using the SPSS software package. Data analysis wasperformed using descriptive statistics like simple percentages, and frequencytables. The hypotheses were tested using chi-square (χ2) statistical inference.Findings of the study revealed that the female employees of Anambra State CivilService at the lower cadre experience more sexual harassment and this affectsthe level of performance in their workplace. The study recommended the needfor the Commission to come up with tough policies aimed at reducing theincidence of sexual harassment.