What men consider sexual harassment in the workplace

Provocative looks from men towards women in workplaces or the telling of sexual and lewd jokes are not often recognized by men as sexual harassment, ActionAid research has found.

Specifically, according to the results of the survey on men’s perceptions of sexual harassment at work, behaviors that do not involve physical contact but are verbally or visually harassing are much less likely to be recognized as sexual harassment:

– Provocative looks at a rate of 50.2% and

– the telling of sexual or lewd jokes and stories at a rate of 51.4%.

Men are more likely to consider sexual harassment in the workplace extortion to make a woman submit to sexual proposals through direct or indirect threats or bribes (88.1%), the rape, attempted rape or sexual assault (87.9%) and the unwanted physical contact (83.4%).

At the same time, it is noteworthy that in the corresponding survey conducted two years earlier among women about sexual harassment in the workplace, the respondents had answered that these are exactly the behaviors that they experience often or even daily. 69% said they have experienced provocative looks as sexual harassment and 61% the telling of sexual or lewd jokes or stories.

When asked about the incidents most men had witnessed, the answers referred to provocative looks (21.3%), telling sexual or lewd jokes (15.8%), sexual or sexist comments and offensive questions about personal life (14.5%).

However, men’s reactions to incidents of sexual harassment seem to be uncommon. Specifically, those who stated that they had witnessed such incidents were asked to answer a question about how they reacted. Nevertheless, 60% did not answer to the question.

Also, most feel that the female victims themselves must deal with the problem.

The majority of men (87.6%) agreed with the need for workplace policies to address sexual harassment, while 77.6% said they would not work in a workplace where incidents of sexual harassment occur.

Regarding the #metoo movement in Greece and whether it has had a positive effect on the way they think about the issues of sexual harassment against women, 71.2% of respondents responded in the affirmative. Also, about half stated that feminist groups and NGOs develop very important action for gender equality.

The survey, released today on the occasion of tomorrow’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and presented by the Athens-Macedonian News Agency, involved 1,009 men aged 18 and over, the majority of whom were married with children, aged 45-64, full-time employees who live in the prefecture of Attica and have completed Tertiary Education. Also, a qualitative investigation was carried out through 15 interviews with male workers aged between 27 and 65 years.

RES-EMP

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