Sexual Harassment in the Hotel Housekeeping Department

Sexual Harassment in the hotel housekeeping department by Oliveira and Ambrosio is an exploratory paper on the incidence of sexual harassment of hotel housekeeping staff in Portugal. The idea of the paper comes from the case of the harassment of a maid in New York by a French politician. This makes the topic of the paper both timely and relevant within the larger context of both human resources study in the hospitality industry and in studies of sexual harassment. The study appears to be unique, particularly as it focuses on Portugal. The authors were able to determine that a high number of housekeepers at hotels in Portugal have experienced some form of sexual harassment. The authors further determined many critical factors that contribute to the high rate of harassment.

The authors' work helps to build a body of knowledge about the subject, and can be used in conjunction with other similar studies elsewhere in the world. The most valuable finding consists of the contributing factors to sexual harassment -- isolation of the work environment, lack of security, abusive guests and fear of confrontation. Many of these issues can be addressed by management, so there is room for future study as to the best solutions to these issues. The authors also contribute policy recommendations that can serve as the basis for future research. The authors did not offer limitations to their study, but reasonably the study is limited to Portugal unless its findings are confirmed in research elsewhere. There may also be further factors -- such as the use of foreign workers in housekeeping departments -- that may also be contributing factors. Thus the research represents more of a starting point for addressing the issue than a definitive set of conclusions.

The authors' use of qualitative research was appropriate. This approach is consistent with other research of this type, as the authors note. They used interviews that helped to bring out the information they were seeking, a technique that made the research more effective. While there is room for expanding the scope of this research to examine other potential causes, that is not a fault with this paper, as a number of causes were identified. The authors may have jumped at providing policy recommendations on the basis of this paper, but that does not invalidate the findings in any way. Using the interview technique was necessary because they needed first hand experiential information from the respondents in order to accurately assess the scope of the problem and the perceived underlying factors.

A case study is what emerged from this research. The researchers studied five hotels, four of which were domestic and one was an international brand. The international brand was essentially the control on the study, and the authors found that it was the only one that provided training to housekeepers and managers about sexual harassment. Thus, the international hotel can be seen as a model for evaluating the effectiveness of these techniques in lowering incidence of sexual harassment. This is the case study component -- lessons can be drawn from the different experiences of housekeepers at four-star and five-star hotels, and from those between Portuguese hotels and international hotel brands. Such differences provide some context as to how management can reduce sexual harassment of its housekeeping staff.