ABSTRACT
Objectives: To determine if sexual harassment was a problem at the University of Zambia (UNZA); to explore UNZA student's perception on the nature of sexual harassment; and determine student's knowledge and understanding about sexual harassment. Design: A cross-sectional study across UNZA. Main outcomes: Occurrence of sexual harassment at UNZA; knowledge; perception and understanding of sexual harassment. Measure: A self-administered questionnaire was developed for the purpose of the study and piloted. The questionnaire included items on perceptions and understanding of sexual harassment; the nature of the environment at UNZA; frequency of the occurrence of sexual harassment; direct experiences and observations of sexual harassment; and formal and informal reporting of sexual harassment. Results: This study found that sexual harassment was a problem at the University of Zambia (UNZA) and female students were more likely to be affected. There was no gender difference on the knowledge about sexual harassment (p=0.27) but there was a significant gender difference in the perception of sexual harassment occurring at UNZA (?2 = 86.51; df= 1; p0.001); there were significantly more female students who perceived a lot of sexual harassment to be occurring at UNZA. More female students also perceived that students were likely to harass other students (p0.01) and students were likely to harass lecturers (p0.001). Conclusion: The problem of sexual harassment at UNZA should not be underestimated; among our recommendation is to formulate a policy on sexual harassment at UNZA