One in two workers aren’t experiencing sex exploitation

Editor,I don’t doubt that the sex-for-favours phenomenon is as rampant in Rwanda as it is everywhere else. But I find the statistics put forward (58.3% in the private sector and 51.4% in the public sector) quite unbelievable.What that means is that at least one in every two working people in Rwanda has experienced workplace sexual harassment, either as direct victims themselves or are close to someone who has been thus exploited. And this would imply that Rwanda’s situation in this area is in calamity territory.For the proper assessment of the study on which these sensationalist claims are being made, it would be helpful if we could be informed about its methodology and how the various categories of abuse or sexual corruption are defined.While we need to acknowledge that there is a problem that needs attention, it is equally important neither to minimise nor exaggerate it.Mwene Kalinda, KigaliReaction to the story, “Sex for jobs: Private sector main offenders”, (Sunday Times, August 18)

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One in two workers aren’t experiencing sex exploitation