Number of men lodging sexual harassment complaints on the rise, says deputy minister

Number of men lodging sexual harassment complaints on the rise, says deputy minister

Aiman Athirah Sabu says women, family and community development ministry roadshows received more than 400 reports from men.

Deputy women, family and community development minister Aiman Athirah Sabu says more than a quarter of sexual harassment complaints at social support centres are from men. (Bernama pic)
KUALA LUMPUR:
There has been an increase in the number of sexual harassment complaints lodged by men through social support centres (PSSS), deputy women, family and community development minister Aiman Athirah Sabu said today.

She said the centres received 1,486 complaints of sexual harassment throughout the 14 series of the KPWKM@Advocacy anti-sexual harassment roadshows.

“Of the total, 411 cases (27.7%) were from men,” she said in reply to Senator Husain Awang’s question about the programme’s effectiveness during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Negara. In October, Aiman said 351 cases had been reported to social support centres.

Meanwhile, Aiman said 97.6% of participants showed an increase in sexual harassment knowledge and understanding.

“More than 19,000 people from various walks of life took part in the roadshows,” she said.

In addition, Aiman said a number of advocacy programmes were held with private companies and NGOs to raise awareness about sexual harassment in the workplace.

“We ran 54 advocacy programmes, in which 9,354 people took part, in collaboration with the Congress of Unions of Employees in Public and Civil Services and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health,” she said.

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