Equal Opportunities Work - Theories about Practice

Sexual harassment and equal opportunities
work
l.Introduction
On I July 1998 the provisions of the Swedish Equal Opportunities Act
regulating the obligation of an employer to prevent and counteract sexual
harassment at the workplace were made more stringent. In short, the aim of this
amendment was to accentuate the fact that sexual harassment in working life is
not acceptable, to introduce a definition of sexual harassment. and to stress the
obligations of the employer to implement active measures to prevent, counteract
and deal with sexual harassment. A regulation was added making the employer
liable to pay damages if no measures are taken in relation to reports of sexual
harassment.
This means that work to prevent sexual harassment is, today, a legislated
aspect of equal opportunities work in Sweden. But what should an individual
actively working with equal opportunities do when the problem of sexual
harassment arises? Is it a legal issue? A comprehensive problem in the work
environment? A matter of knowledge? Or is it a question of knowing how to
handle and report sexual harassment?
2. Theory and practice
The aim of this text is to discuss sexual harassment against the backdrop of
working with equal opportunities in practice.
How does one formulate a theory about what happens in practice? This is a
highly problematic question. It is easy, for instance, either to
overintellectualize the matter, to shroud it in mystification, or to oversimplify
it in terms of black-and-white dichotomies. How can such pitfalls -- the gross
dichotomies, the oversimplified views, and the altogether-too-heady
expositions about practices -- be avoided? They are often related to some kind
of theoretical block, such as trying to use one's pet theory as too sweeping a
point of departure, or not modifying an initial hypothesis after an encounter
with concrete experience.
To formulate a useable theory about practice, one should oscillate between
practical and theoretical endeavors, as well as testing various theories on the
same phenomenon. It is vital to take account of the full range of concrete
experience to be analyzed, rather than disregarding that which may be in
33