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Tackling Sexual Harassment: Short and Long-Run Experimental Evidence from India

Author

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  • Sharma, Karmini

    (Imperial College London Business School)

Abstract

Sexual harassment awareness training is a key tool to combat sexual harassment, which affects nearly 205 million people in the workplace (ILO, 2022). This paper provides the first randomized evaluation of such training in collaboration with colleges in Delhi, India, to study its impact on sexual harassment. I randomly assigned men to receive this training, with empathy-building, and collected reports of sexual harassment from women in their classes. The training significantly reduced sexual harassment for up to 3 years and altered men's perceptions of social disapproval more than their intrinsic attitudes. It also led to a long-lasting reduction in classroom romantic relationships. A mechanism experiment suggests this is due to women finding it difficult to judge men's quality when social disapproval generates a pooling equilibrium. A similar intervention for women had no detectable effects. Finally, men's training increased women's labor market engagement without affecting their mental well-being or test scores.

Suggested Citation

  • Sharma, Karmini, 2024. "Tackling Sexual Harassment: Short and Long-Run Experimental Evidence from India," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 728, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    • Handle: RePEc:cge:wacage:728
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    File URL: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/cage/manage/publications/wp728.2024.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender; sexual harassment; deterrence; beliefs JEL Classification: D91; J16; J28; K42; O12;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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