Personal Safety Practices, Beliefs and Attitudes of Academic Staff On a Small University Campus: Comparison of Males and Females (Part 2)

Summary

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The current study reports on a study examining the safety concerns of male and female staff members on a small university campus. A 160-item questionnaire was distributed to 231 staff employees (49 males and 182 females), which asked individuals questions pertaining to socio-demographic information, daily routines and campus activities, awareness of campus services directly/indirectly related to safety issues, personal safety precautions taken while on campus, beliefs about safety on campus, attitudes and beliefs about safety on campus, and finally reported cases of victimization on campus. Overall, the results of the current study show that women staff members have experienced more harassment and acts of violence against them, than their male counterparts. However, while women clearly felt less safe on campus, male and female staff members did not differ significant in their attitudes towards improving safety features on campus. This appeared to be due to the fact that more male staff members were concerned about safety issues, despite the low numbers of male staff members that had actually experienced any form of violence. The results clearly indicate the need for continued education of staff, faculty, students and administration about inappropriate behaviours and actions that constitute victimization.

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Personal Safety Practices, Beliefs and Attitudes of Academic Staff On a Small University Campus: Comparison of Males and Females (Part 2)

Both educational institutions and the workplace have been shown to have high rates of sexual harassment (Blackston & Fulton, 1975; Cammaert, 1985; Gutek, 1985; Fitzgerald, Shullman, & Bailey, 1988; Richman, Flaherty, Rospenda, & Christensen, 1992; Koss, Goodman, Browne, Fitzgerald, Keita, & Russo, 1994). Almough both men and women may experience sexual harassment, findings indicate that women are not only more likely to be sexually harassed (Gruber, 1997; Gutek, 1985), but are also more likely to experience negative consequences of sexual harassment in the workplace (Dansky & Kilpatrick, 1997). While there has been consi...

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