What is harassment?

Harassment in the workplace is not limited to sexual harassment. Many may not know that there are laws in place that make discrimination because of age, religion, and people who file a harassment charge illegal. This article will briefly discuss harassment as it is known in the United States courts.  

Just what is the legal definition of harassment?

According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission  harassment is any and all forms of unwelcoming action toward a person in the workplace. The actual categories come from the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, (ADEA), the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, (ADA), and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.

For more information see the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Why know about harassment?

Knowing what constitutes as harassment can help someone who is a victim or knows someone who is a victim of an alleged harassment crime get the proper justice they deserve. On the other hand, it can help employers, bosses, managers, and other employs know their rights if they are the accused of an alleged harassment. Either way, if a harassment charge is brought up it needs to be handled properly be it through bureaucratic means or the courts as it can disrupt work production and create tension in the workplace. 

Options

If a person does have a case for harassment then the first step is to create a timeline of when the incidents occurred and who was involved.  After which a person has one hundred eighty days to file a claim with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.  As a last resort a lawyer maybe called in to intervene (Doyle 2013). 

Bibliography

Doyle, Alison . Jobserch.About.com, “How To File a Harassment Claim.” Last modified 2013.     Accessed March 19, 2013. http://jobsearch.about.com/od/harassment/qt/How-To-File-A-      Harassment-Claim.htm. 

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, “Prohibited Employment Policies/Practices.”   Accessed March 19, 2013. http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/index.cfm

The Violence towards Women

                Almost everyone in their lives have experienced some sort of bullying of varying degrees against them: be it physical, mental, or even cyber.  If not a person will know someone who has been abused and have seen the effects violence of any nature has on that person.  It is emotionally draining on the victim’s body, mind, and spirit. Sometimes these acts can even lead to the death of the victim, be it suicide or murder. Therefore, violence toward women is no laughing matter. It is a real issue that many women have to bravely face on a day to day basis.

But just how many women actually suffer from violence, anyway?  In truth that is a hard statistic to estimate, but it is believed that“[b]etween 15 and 76 percent of women are targeted for physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime, according to the available country data” (“Fast Facts: Statistics on Violence Against Women and Girls” 2011). This statistic raises another question, why might such a huge gap be present amongst countries? There could hundreds of reasons why a person being abused does not come forward. At least in the cases of rape occurring in India, however, it appears that one of the causes maybe the government’s lack of action towards rapists. Two recent rape victims highlight the phenomenon very well; both of their true identities are unknown to public. The first is that of seventeen year old girl who committed suicide. Although she had formally registered her rape to law enforcement, reportedly it was those very police who were pressuring the young woman and her family to drop the charge. Since then the officers involved have either resigned or are on suspension. The other victim has received far more media attention. At age twenty-three she has been dubbed Damini by the public. After her rape she was nearly at death door. Even after being brought to a hospital in Singapore she eventually passed away.  Damini’s death sparked mass protesting that has called for Indian government to make reforms for rape and violence toward women much harsher. What is more frightening is that these two women are not alone in the experience they shared. It is estimated that in 1971 to two thousand four hundred eighty-seven people were raped. This figured jumped to twenty-four thousand two hundred six in 2011(Singh et al. 2013). That means that there are thousands of women who have suffered just like Damini in India alone!

However, it is important to remember that India is not the only country in world that has to deal with issues of violence towards women and the bureaucratic tape that accompanies it. For example, the United States Congress has repeatedly tried to pass a revision Violence Against Women Act, which would expand present regulations  provided funds for provides “grants to state and local offices for legal assistance, transitional housing, law enforcement training, stalker databases and domestic violence hotlines” (Abrams 2013) . One of the reasons that the act has not passed in the past was the controversial singling out it would give lesbians and Native American Women (Abrams 2013). Still the fact that the Violence Against Women Act is continually being debated shows not only how complex the issue is, but just how prevalent it still is for American society. Other examples of how violence against woman has affect people across the globe can be found at http://onebillionrising.org/reason (“Another Reason to Raise ” 2013).

 Around the world women are being violated each day. Behind all the statistics and numbers that are used to describe these events are women who are suffering with the stress of the event or have died, just like Damini. Thankfully, there are people out there who stand up against this violence and dare to make a change, like those protestors in India that are campaigning to for government reform (Singh et al. 2013). However, government action can be a slow process, like the expansion of the Violence Against Women Act has shown to be (Abrams 2013). Still, proper government reform that helps to end violence against women is something that is well worth the wait.

Bibliography and Web Links.

1 Billion Rising, “Another Reason to Raise .” Last modified 2013. Accessed February 11, 2013.                 http://onebillionrising.org/reason.   

Web Link: http://onebillionrising.org/reason.  

Abrams , Jim. MSN, “Senate Tries Again to Move Anti-Violence Bill.” Last modified 2013. Accessed           February 11, 2013. http://news.msn.com/politics/senate-tries-again-to-move-anti-violence-bill.

Web Link: http://news.msn.com/politics/senate-tries-again-to-move-anti-violence-bill

Luccaco, “Fast Facts:Statistics on Violence Against Women and Girls.” Last modified 2011. Accessed         February 10, 2013. http://www.endvawnow.org/en/articles/299-fast-facts-statistics-on-   violence-against-women-and-girls-.html.  

Web Link: http://www.endvawnow.org/en/articles/299-fast-facts-statistics-on-violence-against-women-and-girls-.html.

Singh, Harmeet Shah, and Hilary Whiteman. CNN, “Indian Girl Commits Suicide Over Alleged Gang           Rape.” Last modified 2013. Accessed February 10, 2013.        www.cnn.com/2012/12/28/world/asia/india-rape-suicide/.

Web Link: www.cnn.com/2012/12/28/world/asia/india-rape-suicide/.

After decades of fighting women are finally allowed to be in the front line of combat. This is something that strikes me because I already thought women were able to serve on the front line. According to the Washington Post, only a handful of countries have allowed women to serve on the front lines. 

I find this amazing that we are going into 2013 and we have just now passed a law for women to have equal standings as men in the United States Army. I thought that we as a nation have come beyond this fight. It is a continual struggle for gender equality in the United States as well as other countries around the world dealing with the same issues.

Courtship is defined as the act, process, or art of seeking the love of someone with the intent to marry. Are the “traditional” ways of courting becoming extinct? I feel it is constantly through time evolving, especially with the advancements in technology. What our parents did to court was probably different to what our grandparents did for courting. Unlike them though, we are able to hide behind our Ipads, smart phones, & various social media outlets. We are able to create an illusion of who we are or expose too much of ourselves which can contribute to the reason why we aren’t able to communicate as well in a face to face manner like the ones who preceded us. Perfect example of how naive we are as a generation would be what just recently happened to Manti T’eo & those involved in the documentary Catfish. Both dealt with people getting scammed or duped through social network sites that have become the norm in today’s society when finding someone to potentially court. I don’t put these sites down because in some case they have helped in finding true love. But, on the contrary I strongly feel over these sites you can lose that authenticity or realness of truly getting to know someone up close and personal.

thestriversrow:

npr:

nevver:

What happens

Modern interpretation of “life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans.” -L

Oh!

univisionnews:

Through a petition and a TV ad, Uruguayan activists asked for racist expressions to be removed from one of the most important Spanish language dictionaries.

By MANUEL RUEDA

The Spanish language contains some racist metaphors that hark back to the days when slavery was common in the Americas.  Among them, “un jefe negrero” (a boss that behaves like a slave merchant) and “trabajar como un negro,” which roughly means “to work like a black person.”

Read More

tedx:

Differences between how men and women are portrayed in the media, Kadri Bank at TEDxYouth@Tallin

Above: One of a series of live drawings of TEDxYouth@Tallin done by TEDxYouthDay Reporter Yasmine Tashk.

“Since we all came from a woman, got our name from a woman, and our game from a woman.  I wonder why we take from women, why we rape our women, do we hate our women?  I think its time we killed for our women, be real to our women, try to heal our women, cause if we don’t we’ll have a race of babies that will hate the ladies, who make the babies.  And since a man can’t make one he has no right to tell a woman when and where to create once.”

Famous lyrics from Tupac Shakur’s, “Dear Mama has me thinking as men we need to reassess how we are treating women today.  With the recent beatings of the infamous Bus Driver incident.  and the newest issue of the young lesbian getting beat up by her girlfriend’s brother, I wonder why the disrespect continues to go on.  

Maybe you have heard someone one say, “Some women deserve to be beaten, just as some men deserve to be beaten, or are we going to discriminate now?”  Or, “I think you attract a certain kind of man by dressing like that.  Women wonder why they get beaten up, or have relationships with asshole men.”

When I see or hear about a man hitting a woman, I feel it gives him a measurement of his control.  He is not treating her with respect. Instead of women being our equal, men place themselves above them as if they were a peasant.  Truth be told, a man wouldn’t want someone hitting his mother, so he shouldn’t hit women.

As we approach the Holidays here in the US, it is very interesting to take a look at other celebrations that go on around this time of year in the rest of the world.  One such holiday is the Festival of Lights celebrated in Asia.  It is India’s most important holiday that is celebrated over the course of five days. It celebrates a common theme of goodness overcoming evil, or light over evil.  This holiday is very important to the Hindu community, but it also transcends religion!

Upon reading about the history and tradition of Diwali, it was interesting to find out the main themes of the celebration.  Nevertheless, it was more interesting to read about how the holiday is shaped differently by different religions that celebrate it! Besides Hindus, other religious groups that celebrate Diwali are Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs

• “In Jainism, it marks the nirvana or spiritual awakening of Lord Mahavira in Oct. 15, 527 B.C.
• In Sikhism it marks the day that Guru Hargobind Ji, the Sixth Sikh Guru was freed from imprisonment.” (Discovery)

I know that there is a lot of hostility that builds up when it comes to LGBTQ issues, especially in the United States.  Each side of the issue can’t seem to wrap their minds around the others’ position.  Opponents to LGBTQ inclusion typically, however not all, can’t or don’t want to have government recognized inclusion of a people that their religion is against especially in regards to institutions that have been an important part of religion, like marriage.  On the other side, Supporters of LGBTQ inclusion are dumbfounded as how anyone could deny what they view as basic rights to anyone.  This post is not to convert you to my opinion but to share images of people protesting with love, not hate.

knowhomo:

LGBTQ* Demonstrations You May Have Missed

(Following from BuzzFeed’s Stacy Lambe and BuzzFeedLGBT)

Massive Gay Kiss-In Held In Paris

People gathered in front of the Hôtel de Ville on Nov. 15 to demonstrate support for the “marriage for all” bill as the equality debate heats up in France.

Read more HERE….

(All photos are property of photographers. Photographs taken from BuzzFeed)