Sexual Harassment in Zimbabwe’s Institutions of Higher Education

This paper investigates the extent to which sexual harassment takes place in Zimbabwe in institutions of higher education such as universities, polytechnics and teachers’ colleges. A sample of 3,500 female students from 16 institutions of higher learning was sent a questionnaire on sexual harassment in 1994. All year groups of students at the University of Zimbabwe and the Harare Polytechnic were sampled while in teachers’ colleges mainly first and third-year students were used. In all 2,756 (79 percent) usable questionnaires were returned. Analysis of these data reveals that in almost every institution of higher learning in Zimbabwe there exists a significant number of male lecturers who sexually harass female students. Recommendations on how the situation could be improved include, amongst others, education of students and their trainees in what constitutes sexual harassment; proper reporting procedures on sexual harassment; strong disciplinary measures against lecturers who sexually harass female students; legislation which protects female students from sexual harassment. Bibliogr., note, sum.