Politics,policies and practice: assessing the impact of sexual harassment policies in UK universities

Since sexual harassment was first named and identified as an obstacle to women's equality in the mid 1970s, concern about both its prevalence and its damaging effects has resulted in the widespread introduction of anti‐harassment policies in UK universities, as in other work and educational settings. The study reported here sought to assess the impact of these policies, in the context of criticisms of the effectiveness of universities' implementation of equal opportunities policies more generally. Its findings indicate that key differences in how policies are both conceived and implemented influence the degree of impact they have. In discussing these different approaches to tackling harassment I highlight the significance of adopting a ‘proactive’, rather than merely ‘reactive’ strategy and consider the reasons why many universities appear to be resisting doing so.