The awareness of sexual harassment generated by the MeToo movement has unfortunately not resulted in a sharp decline of harassment of women in the workplace. Even women who have attained positions in white-collar professions still become the victims of unwanted sexual advances.
In spite of widespread public discussions about sexual harassment of female employees, society still has a long way to go in combating this problem. Business Insider explains some recent findings detailing how workplaces treat white-collar women.
Data on sexual harassment
The Center for Talent Innovation performed a survey that found that one in three white-collar women have been the victim of sexual harassment. 72% of the respondents implicated a person in a senior position in the workplace. Not all white-collar industries produced equal numbers of sexual harassment. Women who worked for media companies suffered the most, where two out of five women reported harassment.
The survey also discovered multiple generations of women reported harassment. In fact, there was no significant difference. Being a member of the Baby Boomer generation or Generation X or the Millennial cohort still yielded an equal chance of suffering sexual harassment.
Harassment still goes mostly unreported
The Business Insider article goes on to explain that the overwhelming majority of women harassed still do not report it. For instance, the article cites national survey data that found 5 million workers experienced harassment from 2012 to 2016 but the government only received 9,200 claims.
Unfortunately, many female employees who claim sexual harassment experience forms of retaliation. In fact, Mercury News reported that 68% of workers making harassment claims have suffered some kind of retaliation. Nonetheless, sexual harassment and retaliation are illegal under law and no one should have to suffer them.
