KINGSTON, Jamaica — Member of Parliament for St Andrew East Rural, Juliet Holness, is encouraging Jamaicans to embrace the “significant behavioural change” that will be necessary for the successful implementation of legislation related to sexual harassment.

Holness made the argument on Tuesday as she made her contribution to the report on the joint select committee of the Parliament that examined the Sexual Harassment [Protection and Prevention] Act 2021 in the House of Representatives.

“This is a significant advancement in legislating the protection of women and indeed men, from sexual harassment, having had the benefit of significant consultation of a wide cross section of stakeholders,” Holness stated.

She expressed that legislators must be mindful of the cultural context into which they choose to introduce legislation, especially the type that requires a cultural shift in successful application.

“I am therefore challenging us as a people to embrace the necessary cultural shift that this legislation brings, in the interest of protecting the vulnerable and in making our professional spaces more civilised while at the same time being sensitive to some of the cultural nuances of our communication style as a people,” Holness said.

She is also encouraging Jamaicans to familiarise themselves with features of the Act, including the definition of the term sexual harassment, which she noted states: ‘any unwelcome sexual advance towards a person by another’. It also speaks to sexual suggestions, remarks and innuendos as well as “any verbal, non-verbal or visual contact of a sexual nature”.

“Many of the actions that men, and indeed some women find to be culturally acceptable in some quarters will become very problematic as a result of this legislation and, guess what, rightfully so,” Holness warned.

“We must steer our society away from normalising some of the negative tendencies towards the objectification of each other, we must therefore guide each other, even through legislation to appreciate that unwanted and unreasonable sexual advances are not okay and nobody should feel forced to have to accept them in a civilized society in order, particularly, to progress professionally, in any workplace,” she declared.

Holness argued that if Jamaica is to be the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business, “we must encourage a cultural shift which makes the workplace an educational institution or any business place a safe place where people are free to function and advance their intellectual and functional merit without having to worry about doing certain favours”.