Background: Workplace sexual harassment is a public health problem that depends on gender, context, and perceivers ideology. Though studies documented the prevalence and consequences worldwide, the perception, experience, risk, and effects on victims are still at an earlier stage and not well understood in low and middle-income countries, particularly Ethiopia. The issue is worsened among women employees in the hospitality workplace that comprises hotels, bars, restaurants, fast-food establishments, and cafeterias. Hence, this study aimed to explore workplace sexual harassment perception and experience among women in these workplaces.

Methods: An exploratory qualitative study was conducted from January 1 to August 30, 2019. Data were collected from women employees and key informants (managers, cashiers, and customers) from several hospitality workplaces in the Bahir Dar City. The data were collected through focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, and key-informant interviews. Women who experienced sexual harassment were selected using the snowball method, and the key informants were recruited purposefully until the data theoretically saturated. Key informants who were supposed to give adequate information to study objectives were selected. The selection process was based on their responsibility concerning women working in hospitality workplaces. Data were analysed via the thematic analysis approach using the ATLAS ti version 8.4.24 software package.

Results: In this study, six focus group discussions, ten in-depth interviews, and thirteen key informant interviews were conducted. The majority of the participants perceived that sexual harassment is pressuring, threatening, touching, abducting for sexual advances; and experienced verbal, physical, and non-verbal forms. Similarly, the perceived risk factors were organisation related, customer-related, victim-related; and the consequences were work-related, health-related, finance-related, and family undermining.

Conclusions: Workplace sexual harassment in hospitality workplaces was poorly understood but widely experienced by women. It was also caused by multiple factors and affected both organisational and individual-level factors. Awareness creation campaigns, pre-service education, and in-service training, prevention, and rehabilitation are needed. Likewise, organisational policies and strategies should have to be developed and implemented.

Keywords: Transactional sex, factors, effects, phenomenology, hospitality workplaces, Ethiopia