"It's their code of ethics" : sexual harassment of women in trade, technology and operative occupations

This thesis is an exploratory and descriptive study of the dynamics and perceptions of the sexual harassment of women in the nontraditional occupations designated trades, technology and operations (TTO). Fourteen women were interviewed as a result of a purposive snowball sample and the issues are analyzed using a feminist perspective. The concepts occupational segregation of the labour force, gender queues/labour queues and women as a reserve army of labour are utilized in order to conceptualize the notion of occupations considered nontraditional for women. Women, as tokens in TTO occupations, are found to experience a variety of behaviours encompassed within a definition of sexual harassment, ranging from a poisoned work environment to sexual assault. They rarely interpret a poisoned work environment as "sexual harassment", but rather as part of the sexualization of the workplace. Sexual assault and harassment by management is perceived as harassment by women. Women entering TTO occupations must accommodate their behaviour and adopt strategies of presentation of self, falling under the typology of "tomboys", "flirts", "ladies" and "feminists." Women adopt further individual strategies in order to deal with the harassment they experience. Although formal grievances and complaints are few, women's strategies provide them with the opportunity for active resistance against male incursions in the work environment.