Prevention and Intervention at Management Level
An attentive and sensitive approach to the topic of sexual harassment is part of the management task.
As a manager, whether in research, teaching or administration, it is your responsibility to counteract and protect your employees or students from sexual harassment.
If you recognise signs of sexual harassment or are taken into confidence by those affected, you must react:
- Take the reports seriously! Talking about it means having the courage and confidence to do so. Do not trivialise the situation and do not play down its significance.
- Do not take any further steps without consulting the person concerned! The staff at the helpdesk will be happy to discuss the case with you anonymously and help you deal with the situation.
- Take a clear stance in dealing with sexual harassment.
- Assure support, but only promise what you can keep.
- Discuss possible options for action and, if necessary, point out university or external support services for sexual harassment.
If you have any questions or uncertainties, please contact the helpdesk or UFB staff at any time (anonymously if you wish). In addition, the contact persons appointed by the University, the Faculty Women's Representatives, the Equal Opportunities Officer and the Conflict Management team are available to advise you.
You can find the relevant contact details under the Further information & (external) contact points tab.
Initial recommendations for prevention in German can be found here
An informative podcast episode on sexual harassment as a leadership challenge by Angela Hoppe (Fachstelle Mentoring MV, KarriereWegeMentoring Universität Greifswald) is available in German.
Listen and download directly here.
You can also find further information via the following links:
Handout bukof "Sexualised Discrimination and Violence at Universities" [in German]
Handout from the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency "Sexual Harassment in the Workplace" [in German]
Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency Research Project "Sexual Harassment in the University Context" [in German]
