Workplace Report September 2010

Equality news

Sexual harassment

Almost one in 10 women feel sexually harassed whilst at work but less than half (44%) go on to report it to another member of staff, according to a study by HR consultancy Reabur.

When asked why sexual harassment was so infrequently reported, the survey of 1,496 women found a third (32%) believed it would affect their future career prospects and a further fifth (21%) did not think that the complaint would be “taken seriously”.

A fifth of the women (21%) had experienced a male colleague making a sexist comment in the workplace and 2% said they had been touched inappropriately by a male colleague whilst at work. A quarter of respondents explained that they feared they may be seen as “overreacting” if they reported the incident.