Page 13 - ARUBA TODAY

A13
Wednesday 7 February 2018

Follow-up research sexual harassment
Aruba and Curacao 2018:

I’m Not Your Dushi

(or ‘Me no ta bo Dushi’ or I’m not your babe’)

By Linda Reijnders problem, one that can’t be mini-
ORANJESTAD/WILLEMSTAD - The mized with calling it a ‘Dushi-cul-
follow-up research about sexual ture’”, Bosman says.
harassment in the workplace and
education in Aruba and Curacao Drawing a Line
by Karin Bosman, Dutch and found- This January Bosman was in Cura-
er of About Workplace Harassment cao to cooperate on the initiative
(AWH), has started this month. In legislation sexual harassment in the
January AWH has introduced their workplace with the local Parlia-
follow-up research on sexual ha- ment. She also held several aware-
rassment in the workplace which ness sessions on workplace harass-
they extended with secondary ed- ment including one for the Central
ucation and the universities. Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten.
The focus with these sessions is on
The campaign around this follow- the so called grey area of sexual
up research is called ‘I’m not your harassment/ unwanted behav-
Dushi’ which represents ‘I’m not ior. With a tailor-made dilemma
your babe’. AWH has chosen this game Bosman shows how personal
name with a particular reason. Ev- boundaries are of influence on this
ery time when Bosman was inter- grey area. With this Bosman cre-
viewed in Aruba or Curacao she ates awareness and attention for
was confronted with comments on these personal boundaries. Draw-
her topic like ‘but we have a ‘Du- ing a line can be very difficult even
shi-culture’ here’, almost like it was though it’s very important to do
an excuse for unwanted behavior so. Our personal boundaries de-
or they even wondered if this be- fine who we are in position of oth-
havior could be unwanted. “The ers Bosman says. The game also
research held by AWH in 2015-2016 breaks with the taboo on this topic
(zero-measurement) in Aruba has and help people to communicate,
already proven that sexual harass- which is an important step in the
ment in the workplace is a serious harassment prevention.

Bosman will be in Aruba beginning
of March to promote the research
campaign ‘I’m not your Dushi’ at
schools and universities. They can
sign up for a 30-minutes aware-
ness session offered by AWH (free
of charge). Of course Bosman will
also contact the Aruban govern-
ment and the Aruban businesses to
address their responsibility in inform-
ing their employees on policies and
protocols to prevent sexual harass-
ment and other forms of unwanted
behavior from happening. q

This follow-up research is essential to measure the progress of our project in creating a safe work environment for you and your colleagues. The
questions (available in 4 languages) may be confronting, so please answer them carefully. The questions concern possible situations of sexual
harassment towards you, a colleague or thirds in the workplace (customers, patients, suppliers). Thank you for your cooperation, the results will
be shared mid-2018.
http://aboutworkplaceharassment.com/questionnaire/papiamento.html
http://aboutworkplaceharassment.com/questionnaire/index.html