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A new study has revealed that almost one in 10 women (8%) feel sexually harassed while at work, but less than half report it.
A new study has revealed that almost one in 10 women (8%) feel sexually harassed while at work, but less than half report it.
Research by HR consultancy, www. Reabur.com, found one third said they had not reported the sexual harassment incident to a manager or HR department because they feared it would affect their future career.
One fifth said they’d decided not to report an incident because they felt their complaint would not be taken seriously.
According to the study, 21% of the 1,496 women polled said they have had a male colleague make a sexist comment in the workplace – 39% of those women said they had wanted to make a formal complaint about the remark.
Two per cent told the survey they had been touched inappropriately by a male colleague while at work, although only 14% of them had told anyone about the incident – more than a fifth of them felt they may be seen as ‘over-reacting’.
Of the women polled, 16% claimed they worked in an environment dominated by men – four out of 10 say they ‘prefer’ working with men. But 26% of the women who work predominately with men admit to feeling ‘uncomfortable’ in certain situations.
The study also found that 11% of the female respondents have felt ‘victimised’ by their male peers, and more than a fifth feel that their male boss would promote a male colleague over them, because of their gender.
Kirsty Burgess, co-managing director of Reabur.com, said: ”It is concerning that many women still feel that they will not be taken seriously. I would strongly advise any victim of harassment to report the incident to a manager or trusted colleague. On many occasions these situations can be resolved internally, and the resolution makes for a much happier environment.
”There definitely seems to be the feeling that males are preferred in the workplace. Although this is difficult to prove, my advice is that if people do feel undermined at work for any reason, they contact the appropriate HR department, if there is one. If not, there are many other forms of advice out there for people to take advantage of.”
Nearly one fifth (16%) of the women surveyed said they didn’t feel as though male peers ‘respect’ them, and 12% said they did not think their boss had as much ‘faith in their abilities’ as they do with male peers.