| dc.description |
Background: Workplace sexual harassment is a type of harassment technique that relates to asexual nature and unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors in the workplace. Workplace sexual harassment against a female is not well recognized in developing countries like Ethiopia even though the problem is prevalent at all level of organizations. Despite all, there is inadequate information on prevalence and risk factors in this setting. Therefore this study will fill the prevailing information gap. Objectives: To assess the magnitude of workplace sexual Harassment and its associated factors among female public civil servants of Hawassa city administration, southern Ethiopia, 2020. Methods: Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted from February, 20 to March 30, 2020. A Sample of 383 women selected using a lottery method from seven randomly selected public sectors. Pretested, structured and self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. After checking completeness and consistency data was entered using EpiData version 3.1 and analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 25. Variables with a pvalue of <0.25 on bi-variable logistic regression were selected for multivariate analysis. Statistical significance declared when variables on multivariable regression have a p-value of <0.05 & using AOR and Confidence interval (CI). Results: The magnitude of workplace sexual harassment was 30.7%. Nearly half (48%) of the victims were harassed by managers and 26% by coworkers. Workplace sexual harassment was high among females employees with age <24(AOR=4.6, 95% CI: 1.14-18.77), had secondary education (AOR=3.8, 95% CI: 1.34-10.56), drink alcohol currently (AOR=3.9, 95% CI: 1.1812.67), had work overload (AOR=2.5, 95% CI: 1.01-6.21) and had fear of losing a job (AOR=3.6, 95% CI: 1.35-9.54).However, it is, low among female employees with work experience of 5-10 year (AOR=0.23, 95% CI: 0.07-0.74). Conclusion: The overall prevalence of workplace sexual harassment in this study area is high. Current alcohol drinking, work overload and fear of losing a job were independently associated with the experience of workplace sexual harassment .Improving educational status and strong disciplinary actions against harassers should be considered |
|