A Quarter of Women Have Faced Sexual Harassment from Someone With Power Over Them at Work
Between the sexual harassment allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and the flood of women sharing similar experiences through the hashtag #MeToo, workplace harassment is receiving more attention than ever (and it’s about time). What so many of these stories share is men using their power over women at work to get away with such behavior—and according to a new ABC News-Washington Post poll, this plays out in far more work environments than just Hollywood.
Of the 740 American women surveyed between October 12 and 15—just after the Weinstein allegations came out—54 percent said they had experienced unwanted sexual advances at some point in their lives. Thirty percent had this experience at work, and 23 percent received these advances from someone with influence over them.
But not all incidents of sexual harassment are getting the kind of attention that Weinstein’s have. In fact, the vast majority are go completely unaddressed. Seventy-five percent of the women surveyed—and 95 percent of those who had been harassed in the workplace—said men usually get away with this kind of behavior without repercussions. Given this pattern, it’s understandable that 58 percent of the women who had been harassed at work didn’t report the harassment. In fact, a recent Women Who Tech survey found that among women in tech who reported sexual harassment in their workplaces, only nine percent said their harassers faced punishment, whereas 35 percent said they themselves faced negative repercussions.
These are by no means the first data to show how disturbingly common and inadequately addressed workplace harassment is. Another 2016 survey found that 60 percent of senior-level women in tech had been sexually harassed at work, and 65 percent said these incidents involved someone in a position of power over them.
Of the 1,010 Americans surveyed for the ABC News-Washington Post poll, 75 percent said workplace sexual harassment was a problem, compared to just 64 percent in 2011. This change shows how powerful it can be for women to speak out through hashtags like #MeToo. In addition to creating an environment where other women feel more comfortable sharing their own stories, they’re letting people know that it’s long past time to take harassment seriously.