Sexual harassment: A threat to gradual women emancipation

This article is an attempt to highlight gender-based attitude of society towards women. Women comprise approximately 50% of the total population of Pakistan; Pakistan cannot afford to keep half of its citizens inactive and their potential as participants in development and progress untapped. Nothing more than the misogynist view of women as weak in physical power and deficient in mental faculties has marred the upward movement of societies. Women who defy this erroneous obscurantist conceptualisation and step into public domain are forced either to step back or to make compromises with the situation at the cost of their self-esteem and dignity. This deviant social behaviour is identified as sexual harassment of women. Sexual harassment of women exists beyond geographic spaces, across historic times, and today is prevalent in all societies, developed or underdeveloped. Women are sexually harassed within the safe havens of their homes too. This paper examines how a combination of factors, including religious interpretations, social norms, state negligence, and bad governance result in creating and than perpetuating an anti-women environment that breeds sexual harassment and solidifies patriarchal structures. The last section of this paper cites reported cases of sexual harassment at workplace that happened between 2001 and 2011. Summing up, the paper offers some suggestions to minimise work-place sexual harassment of women.

The effect of gender context on children's social behaviour in a limited resources situation : an observational study

Knowing when to compete and when to cooperate to maximize opportunities for equal access to activities and materials in groups is critical to children's social and cognitive development. The present study examined the individual (gender, social competence) and contextual factors (gender context) that may determine why some children are more successful than others. One hundred and fifty-six children (M age=6.5 years) were divided into 39 groups of four and videotaped while engaged in a task that required them to cooperate in order to view cartoons. Children within all groups were unfamiliar to one another. Groups varied in gender composition (all girls, all boys, or mixed-sex) and social competence (high vs. low). Group composition by gender interaction effects were found. Girls were most successful at gaining viewing time in same-sex groups, and least successful in mixed-sex groups. Conversely, boys were least successful in same-sex groups and most successful in mixed-sex groups. Similar results were also found at the group level of analysis; however, the way in which the resources were distributed differed as a function of group type. Same-sex girl groups were inequitable but efficient whereas same-sex boy groups were more equitable than mixed groups but inefficient compared to same-sex girl groups. Social competence did not influence children's behavior. The findings from the present study highlight the effect of gender context on cooperation and competition and the relevance of adopting an unfamiliar peer paradigm when investigating children's social behavior.