Can Respectful Employees Create Equitable Institutions? Promoting a Culture of Respect in the Higher Education Workplace

• Author: Maureen Linker,Islam Jaffal,Grace Bradley,Lisa Martin,Pamela Aronson,Francine Banner
• DOI: 10.1177/15570851211062577
• Date: 01 July 2022
• Published date: 01 July 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Feminist Criminology

2022, Vol. 17(3) 384–406

© The Author(s) 2021

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/15570851211062577

journals.sagepub.com/home/fcx

Can Respectful Employees

Create Equitable Institutions?

Promoting a Culture of

Respect in the Higher

Education Workplace

Francine Banner

1

, Lisa Martin

2

, Pamela Aronson

1

,

Grace Bradley

1

, Islam Jaffal

3

, and Maureen Linker

4

Abstract

This paper describes challenges to changing the culture around yellow zone sexual

harassment in the higher education workplace. The yellow zone comprises harassment

that is often undetected or misunderstood but nonetheless is harmful. Based on a

random sample, we surveyed 4554 staff and faculty at a large Midwestern university

after they completed a mandatory online training module, assessing perceptions of

sexual harassment, reactions to the training, and workplace personal experiences.

Findings are that a majority of respondents know where to report incidents and that

the training improved knowledge about sexual and gender-based harassment. How-

ever, almost half reported problematic workplace experiences.

Keywords

#metoo, title 9, victimization, yellow zone, sexual harassment, survey research

1

Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Michigan-Dearborn, MI, USA

2

Women’s and Gender Studies Program and Department of Health and Human Services, University of

Michigan-Dearborn, MI, USA

3

International and Regional Studies Program, University of Michigan, MI, USA

4

Department of Literature, Philosophy, and the Arts, University of Michigan-Dearborn, MI, USA

Corresponding Author:

Francine Banner, Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Michigan-Dearborn, 3901 Evergreen

Road, Dearborn, MI 48128, USA.

Email: fmbanner@umich.edu

The #MeToo movement and revelations of numerous, long-term abuses of power by

trusted f‌igures such as coaches, professors, and administrators have resulted in a sexual

assault and harassment crisis among institutions of higher education (Marcelo, 2021;

Ott, 2021). Rather than a problem of individual perpetrators, research situates sexual

violence that occurs within institutions along a continuum, ranging from sexual ha-

rassment to sexual abuse or rape (Bondestam & Lundqvist, 2020). While sexual

harassment may be overt, harassing behaviors often are covert or nuanced, leading

employees to overlook, dismiss, or ignore them (Chawla et al., 2019; National

Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine [NASEM], 2018). These subtle

forms of sexual harassment fall in the “yellow zone,”in that they are often undetected or

misunderstood but nonetheless contribute to harmful workplace cultures (Secretary of

the Navy, 2006). Although some researchers refer to behaviors that may not be readily

categorized as sexual harassment as existing within a “gray zone”(Chawla et al., 2019,

p. 81; Antecol & Cobb–Clark, 2003, p. 826), we use the term yellow zone to indicate, as

traff‌ic signals do, that these types of behaviors are not ambiguous but must stop in order

to create a respectful and safe workplace.

In light of growing understandings about the relationship between university culture

and sexual harassment and assault, and in order to comply with federal legal re-

quirements, universities are taking a multi-pronged approach to addressing sexual

harassment in the workplace, including initiatives aimed at reducing yellow zone

behaviors. More broadly, institutions of higher education implement a variety of means

to foster cultural change to address gender and racial inequalities, such as creating

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion off‌ices and mandating education and training sessions

for faculty and staff (Bisom–Rapp, 2001;Brown, 2019;Dolamore & Richards, 2020).

We examine employee perceptions of one such training, alongside workplace expe-

riences of sexual and gender-based harassment, here.

Literature Review: Sexual Harassment as a Product of

Institutional Culture

The term sexual harassment generally describes three types of behavi or gender-

harassment, unwelcome sexual attention, and sexual coercion (Kirkner et al., 2020;

NASEM, 2018). While rape, sexual assault, and quid pro quo sexual harassment (the

suggestion by a supervisor that an employee will be given something, such as a raise, in

exchange for a sexual favor), are the most obvious types of sexual or gender-based

violence in the workplace, less visible, yellow zone practices are also hazardous, such

as telling sexist jokes, displaying sexual images, or making comments about women’s

competency (NASEM, 2018). Higher education decision-makers face challenges when

attempting to create cultural change around these more subtler behaviors. This process

requires making changes in the institution as a workplace in addition to making the

campus more equitable for students (Antecol & Cobb–Clark, 2003;Bingham &

Scherer, 2001;Chawla et al., 2019;Kirkner et al., 2020;Phipps, 2018). There is a

paucity of data that evaluates training efforts, as institutions tend to be reluctant to open

Banner et al. 385