The mandate of the Equal Opportunities Officer also covers the issue of protection against sexual harassment.

• General information

Sexual harassment comes in many types. There are less serious forms such as staring, lewd remarks or harassment via phone calls or the internet.
However, there are also more serious forms, such as unwanted sexual touching, sexual harassment or even sexualized physical assault.
Depending on its form, context and extent, sexual harassment can also be a criminal offence, for example insulting, sexual harassment or stalking.

Sexual harassment is a common manifestation of violence. Women, men, and persons of the third sex can be affected. Women, men, and persons of the third sex can be perpetrators. In most known/reported cases the perpetrators are very predominantly men. In 2018, 193 cases of sexual harassment were reported to the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency. Of these, 187 cases involved men as perpetrators and 5 cases involved women. In 180 cases women were the victims, in 13 cases men.

• Employer

Various laws and regulations oblige the employer to protect against sexual harassment. In addition, they must act in cases of sexual harassment and inform the workforce about the employer's zero-tolerance policy and contact points in the company. DESY meets these obligations, for example, by including the topic as a chapter in the general safety instructions since 2018. Moreover, online training courses on this topic are available. In addition, the Directorate 2018 has prepared guidelines against sexual harassment at the workplace:

• Role of the Equal Opportunities Officer

As equal opportunities officers, we are active in this area on the one hand through preventive activities, e.g. informational events. On the other hand, we advise affected persons in individual cases. Affected is the person who is sexually harassed, but also all those who notice something and want to help but feel insecure.

• Informational events / workshops

Since 2018, the Equal Opportunities Office has been organizing workshops on campus for doctoral students, postdocs and trainees together with supporters (V2, PHSG, training managers, JAV, DoIt, etc.). The aim is to train all professional and activity groups. Training for managers is particularly important. We are committed to ensuring that such workshops are offered and that participation in them is mandatory for managers. So far, V2 has offered management informational events once in 2018; participation was voluntary.

• Individual case advice

If you are affected, if you feel anxious or worried, if you observe something in your surroundings that makes you feel uncomfortable, feel free to contact us.
We will be pleased to advise you on a specific incident of assault and practical ways of prevention against assaults. We will also support you directly by helping you to prepare for "difficult" discussions and/or accompanying you through the process or in accessing support from third parties. Due to difficulties with sometimes proving evidence in a case, it will not always be possible to take legal action under labour law. Depending on the situation, we can show you what options there are for you to feel (more) safe again.

We guarantee privacy and confidentiality and will not take any steps without your prior consent.