Sexual harassment on the job took a dramatic leap into public awareness in October 1991, when Professor Anita Hill's charges against Judge Clarence Thomas became known after his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. Many other incidents have erupted since then, including investigations into the Navy after the Tailhook incident and into government officials after Senator Bob Packwood was accused of harassing several female staffers. More recently, the federal government has taken legal action on behalf of a large number of women against the Mitsubishi auto assembly plant in Normal, Illinois. Enforcement of the laws prohibiting sexual harassment has been stepped up in the last few years. But in workplaces across America, the issue is far from settled.
Sexual harassment is still a daily problem for many workers, especially women.
In legal terms, sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual advance or conduct on the job that creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment. In real life, sexually harassing behavior ranges from repeated offensive or belittling jokes to a workplace full of offensive pornography to an outright sexual assault. But surprisingly, those laws are fairly new. Today, there is greater understanding that the Civil Rights Act prohibits sexual harassment at work. The laws prohibiting sexual harassment on the job protect all workers.