We had this monthly meeting with the department's manager. In the meeting we were 5 ladies and 6 guys + the manager. In the meeting, the manager was reviewing some survey's results, the survey was about the various issues employees face at work such as; work life balance, rewards and recognition and harassment!!
Harassment refers to a wide spectrum of offensive behavior.The term commonly refers to behavior intended to disturb or upset, and, when the term is used in a legal sense, it refers to behaviours which are found threatening or disturbing.
Anyways, he was going through the different points that the survey covered and discussing them with the staff, listening to their concerns and whatnot.
I don't want to seem silly by blogging about this, but it was so funny that when they reached the *harassment* point, they all looked at me and some female colleagues started talking on my behalf *like I asked them to do so!!*
And the funniest thing is the way people in this part of the world look at unmarried girls. Makes me feel upset!! Seriously, some people's minds need to be formatted...Putting everything else aside, they are
Anyone feels the same way I do!!?
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4 comments:
Interesting, the survey was done at your workplace?
I don't know if its the reason, but usually when the term harassment is heard, it refers to women. Women who mostly report harassment because they are perceived weak. Maybe this is why the guys were looking at the women :)
When I started working, I was in an office with two men, I hated it at first but I always say that its the best thing that happened to me. Being around women is WORSE than being around men .. I hate to say it, but some women are pure evil!
I agree with Arabian Princess; being around men is much better than being around women. Men in Oman (in general) are respectable and always keep their distance when working with a woman (and by distance I don't mean just physical distance but also not asking too much about your personal life, work, etc). I work with only men and yes it's hard sometimes not having any other women around but I'm fine with it.
As for harassment, at my former workplace they weren't big on employee surveys and harassment issues (i.e they thought it could never happen in Oman), but hey, guess what? It did. An expat manager was trying to sexually harass an Omani unmarried female employee. She was so terrified of losing her job because he was her boss, but finally she couldn't take it any longer and she secretly 'taped' what he was saying to her in the office on her phone and handed it over on a CD (transcribed) to the CEO with a harassment report.
The ending was a little dramatic. The expat manager ran away before anyone could confront him. No one has heard from him since.
It's good that your boss cares about employee issues. When some 'real' harassment occurs, at least the employees will know that they can immediately report it and it will be taken care of.
Um 3azzan,
Yes, and it's mandatory for the staff to do it.
And I agree, being around women at work can be a real bad thing. In my old workplace I tried to avoid the women there. It was a shame being around them, so careless and they got nothing to do but to gossip about everyone, including ladies from their very own gang! hehe
And I agree with you, the word harassment is always linked to women 'cause they're perceived weak in this part of the world.
Thanks for passing by dear :)
Nadia,
Yah I think am blessed with such a strict system we have. Many warnings have been issued in couple of harassement issues that have occurred @ my workplace. They take it seriously.
Thanks Nadia :)
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