Sexual Harassment Experiences of Hospitality Interns in Ghana

Abstract

The study was undertaken to investigate experiences of sexual harassment by hospitality interns in Ghana. Phenomenology design was employed for the study to collect data from final year 2020/2021 B-Tech Hospitality interns who were doing a four-month internship programme. Semi-structured interview was used and validated through peer review and re-reading. The study revealed that interns were unaware of sexual harassment policies and were not given any form of sexual harassment orientation prior to their posting. The study further established that interns experienced sexual harassment at their various work places but refused to report any of the cases. Additionally, the results of the study have brought to the fore that uniforms worn by interns, their youthful ages and their attractiveness were major causes of sexual harassment of hospitality interns. This study is important as it offers current empirical data of hospitality interns experiences of sexual harassment and beefed literature which seems not known to exist in a developing country, Ghana.The study recommends that Management of Technical Universities should organise orientation on sexual harassment for interns prior to their postings so as to alert and protect them from any forms of sexual harassment.