First survey of sexual harassment in the workplace

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In April 2004, the Research Centre for Gender Equality (KETHI) issued the findings of the first nationwide survey on sexual harassment in the workplace ever conducted in Greece. The survey examines issues such as the profiles of victims and perpetrators, the extent and nature of harassment, and the responses of victims and management.

In April 2004, the Research Centre for Gender Equality (KETHI) presented the results of the first nationwide survey on sexual harassment in the workplace in Greece. KETHI is supervised and funded by the General Secretariat for Equality of the Ministry of the Interior, Public Administration and Decentralisation.

Goals and methodology

The aim of the KETHI survey was to record the frequency with which sexual harassment of women occurs in the workplace. The study focuses on describing the phenomenon, its characteristics and the relationship between the perpetrator and the victim of harassment. The goal is to provide an initial description of the phenomenon of sexual harassment at work at national level. This is the first survey of its kind in Greece.

The specific goals of the survey were to:

• study the type of harassment suffered by women;

• record the indicators/factors that appear to be responsible for the occurrence of the phenomenon;

• investigate women’s attitudes and reactions to sexual harassment at work; and

• put forward proposals to make this behaviour a criminal offence with a view to preventing and combating it, in the framework of the planning and implementation of active policies to promote gender equality.

The survey involved 1,200 female workers, aged 18 years or above, from all over Greece. Data were gathered using a structured interview method, including completion of a questionnaire.

Findings

The main findings of the survey are as follows.

• Younger women (up to the age of 25) are more frequently victims of sexual harassment at work than older women (over 25).

• The victims of sexually harassing behaviour usually report incidents such as unwanted contact or touching, provocative gestures, persistent pressure for dates, pressure to form a relationship and sexual jokes. Some of the women spontaneously reported instances of rape (5.8%).

• The overwhelming majority of reported perpetrators of sexual harassment are men (97%). In most cases perpetrators occupy higher positions in the company than the female victims of their harassing behaviour. Perpetrators are mainly managers (45%) or women’s immediate superiors (18.3%); less frequently reported as perpetrators of sexual harassment are colleagues (15.8%) and customers (14.2%).

• Most cases of sexual harassment (72.5%) took place during women’s first two years in employment in the companies where they were working at the time the survey was carried out. Some 35.8% of the women who stated that they had been sexually harassed at the workplace were newly hired and the incident took place during their first six months in the job. The longer women remain in the workplace, the fewer incidents of sexual harassment are reported.

• A single instance of harassment by a specific person was reported by 36.7% of victims. Almost half of women reporting harassment reported repeat harassment (more than twice by the same person). In most cases (81.7%) no one except the perpetrator and the victim was present when the sexual harassment took place.

• In most cases of sexual harassment (67.5%) company management was not aware of the incident. However, even when management was aware of the sexual harassment (20%), by and large it failed to take any measures to deal with it (56.7% of such cases). In cases where management did take steps to deal with sexual harassment (43.3% of reported incidents), such steps mainly affected the victims (dismissal in 30.8% of the relevant cases), whereas most perpetrators were merely admonished.

• In 44.2% of the reported cases of sexual harassment, the women’s colleagues were aware of the incident but kept their distance and did not react in any way (92.5% of such cases). In the very few cases where colleagues intervened (7.5%) they either attacked the perpetrator, verbally or physically, or advised the victim to ignore the perpetrator or not to provoke him.

• The overwhelming majority of women who are sexually harassed at work subsequently stop working in the specific workplace concerned (78.3%), either through voluntary resignation (86.2%) or dismissal (8.5%). Some 62.2% of women leave their jobs within six months of the sexual harassment taking place.

• As to the reactions of the female victims of sexual harassment at work, various behaviours were recorded. Women’s main reaction is directly and politely to ask the perpetrator of the harassing behaviour to stop (42.5% of cases). However, a large proportion of victims of sexual harassment (37.5%) exhibit 'defensive', 'submissive' behaviour and feel forced to resign. Involvement of third parties by the victim, either by complaining to them or appealing to them to intervene, is a less likely reaction. Women who fail to react and silently put up with harassing behaviours report that the main reason for their attitude is fear of losing their jobs.

• When victims actively moved to stop the harassment, in the majority of cases they achieved the expected results. In 75.7% of such instances, the harassment stopped immediately or gradually. However, in 14.9% of the cases the harassing behaviour continued, despite the victims’ efforts.

• Women who are sexually harassed at work mainly confide in friends (48.3%) and family members (45%); many victims discuss the harassment with colleagues (20.8%) or speak to company management (11.7%). However, 13.3% of female victims of sexual harassment at work do not reveal their experience to anyone.

• The profile of the 'average' perpetrator of sexual harassment in the workplace is that of a married man up to 45 years of age, usually with a secondary-level education. In the estimation of the female victims of sexual harassment, the main reasons that the perpetrator exhibits harassing behaviour are his personality (21.7%), since often he has also harassed other women (15.8%). In addition, 11.7% of the women reported attraction felt by the perpetrator for the victim as a possible cause of harassment. Finally, 32.5% of the female victims of sexual harassment report that they know another woman who have been sexually harassed, in most cases (79.5%) by the same person.

Commentary

Sexual harassment at the workplace is a particularly serious phenomenon, because for working women:

• it constitutes oppression in the workplace;

• it is demeaning; and

• it must be denounced to the competent authorities.

At the same time, there is an urgent need to make 'blackmailing' behaviour associated with sexual harassment a penal offence - ie in cases where the perpetrator takes advantage of an employment relationship involving subordination of the victim and threatens the victim with unfavourable conditions and/or dismissal in order to force her to engage in a sexual act - since such behaviour insults the individual’s dignity and reduces the worker to a sexual object. To be sure, making such behaviour a penal offence will not magically resolve a real problem, which society appears to face with guilty silence and tolerance. However, it will set the limits for prohibition and for the right to employment relationships free of behaviour insulting to people’s dignity. (Anda Stamati, INE/GSEE)