Resilience, Gender Discrimination and Sexual Harassment in Romanian Higher Education

Based on a sample of 93 respondents (PhD students) from six Romanian universities, the study explores professional/workplace gender discrimination and sexual harassment in higher education institutions in the context of resilience. Following a brief theoretical exploration of the connection between resilience, gender workplace/professional discrimination and sexual harassment the research scrutinizes six different types of gender workplace/professional discrimination (1. during the employment/hiring process; 2. when establishing their work tasks and duties; 3. during professional evaluation; 4. during or for professional advancement / promotion; 5. during promotion to management positions, and 6. regarding premiums and bonuses or other benefits) and five types of sexual harassment/abuse behaviors (1. indecent comments/remarks made by their colleagues; 2. the promise of special/preferential treatment in exchange of sexual favors; 3. situations in which supervisors used their position in order to request sexual favors; 4. unwanted gestures such as touching from other colleagues, and 5. situations when employees offered sexual favors in exchange of preferential workplace treatment). After observing that respondents have a better perception of the situation of women in their organizations (M = 2.73, SD = 1.06) than they do regarding the situation of women in general (M = 2.42, SD = 1.12), our results also show that sexual harassment (as a gender discrimination behavior) is less likely to occur in Romanian HE institutions, other forms of ‘professional/workplace’ gender discrimination seem to be more frequent, but not necessary to the level in which they become systemic or endemic problems/issues