Intersections of race and gender in women's experiences of harassment.

Abstract

Sexual harassment and racial harassment present significant problems for women in the U.S. Nevertheless, these two forms of interpersonal mistreatment have rarely been jointly examined. This dissertation simultaneously investigates women's exposure to harassment based on gender and race. Specifically, this study examined the relationships and outcomes of sexual and racial harassment, as well as those forms of harassment falling at the interface of gender and race. Data were collected via surveys of 459 college women. Racial minority women were well represented; the sample included 139 Latinas, 107 Black women, 103 White women, 74 Asian or Asian American women, 5 Middle Eastern, Arab or Arab American women, 2 Native American women and 28 women who identified as Other. Findings revealed sexual harassment, racialized sexual harassment, and racial harassment as unique, but related constructs. However, these relationships were much stronger for the racial minority women, suggesting that these forms of harassment co-occur more frequently for non-White women. Moreover, racial minority women experienced significantly more racial harassment and racialized sexual harassment than their White peers. Based on the scholarship on stress and multiple victimization, this work also identified a process model that outlines <italic>how</italic> experiences of harassment exert negative effects on individual outcomes. Structural equations modeling revealed that harassment had a strong, direct relationship with students' general satisfaction with their university. Harassment experiences were also indirectly linked to poor mental health via its negative association with school satisfaction. Dissatisfaction and poor psychological outcomes were associated with women's disengagement from work. Finally, the more disengagement that women reported, the worse their academic performance was. Notably, race was not found to moderate the relationship between harassment and student outcomes. However, in keeping with the literature on multiple victimization, outcomes were much worse when multiple forms of harassment are experienced. Thus, the racial minority women report the most psychological distress and lowest school satisfaction. The dissertation concludes with recommendations for clinical interventions and in higher education to ensure that university experiences are equitable for all women.