Investigating the Causes of Harassment of Women in the Afghan Workplace Case Study of Loghman Hakim Hospital in Herat

Although international conventions and codes of conduct in the workplace have recognized respect for women in the occupational spaces, harassment of women in the workplace is an important issue for public and private organizations, especially human rights activists. Given that harassment of women in the workplace, on the one hand, endangers their job security and, on the other hand, has detrimental consequences, the criminological study of the causes of harassment of women in the workplace is an important issue in gender-based approaches. However, because the situation of women in the workplace varies from country to country, the aim of this study was to investigate the causes of harassment of women in the workplace at Loghman Hakim Hospital in Herat, Afghanistan.

The statistical population of this study is the staff of Loghman Hakim Hospital, of which using Cochran's formula, 151 people were selected as the final volume based on stratified random sampling. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire with emphasis on six administrative, political, economic, cultural, social and legal variables. One- sample t-test was used to examine the relationship between variables and harassment of women in Loghman Hakim Hospital and Friedman test was used to rank the variables.

The results of one- sample t-test showed that all six variables have a direct and significant relationship with harassment of women in Loghman Hakim Hospital. However, the findings of Friedman test proved that among the six variables, the legal factor is in the first rank and the economic variable is in the last rank.

Considering the existing structures in Afghan society, it seems that a variety of different factors are effective in harassing women in the workplace. This, which originates from the cultural structures in this country, on the one hand, confirms the patriarchal culture in this society, and on the other hand, shows the legal gaps in the field of protection of women. More precisely, the existence of masculine attitudes in the workplace recognizes the harassment of women. At the same time, the lack of independent criminalization of harassment of women in the workplace in the Afghan penal system is a legal challenge that can help perpetuate male hegemony.