Women and men are more likely to experience sexual harassment in gender-dominated workplaces

A recent study warned that people who are in the minority in terms of gender in their workplace are more vulnerable to sexual harassment, which may push them to leave their jobs and seek other job opportunities with lower pay, thus widening the gender wage gap in the labor market.

According to the study, published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, "people who are in the minority in terms of gender - whether male or female - in their workplace are more vulnerable to sexual harassment."

For her part, Joanna Riken, Professor of Economics at the Swedish Institute for Social Research at Stockholm University, and a participant in the study, confirms that “working conditions and conditions play an important role in gender inequality in the labor market, and exposure to gender discrimination in working conditions contributes to creating more of inequality, which may explain a 15-20% gender pay gap.”

In statements to Al-Alam, Riken said: The risks of harassment of women and men increase with the increase in the proportion of people of the opposite sex in their workplaces. In general, women are three times more likely to be sexually harassed compared to men, but in male-dominated workplaces, They are nearly six times more likely to experience sexual harassment than men, and at the same time, men's risks of sexual harassment are nearly twice as high as women's in female-dominated workplaces.

Researchers define workplace sexual harassment as “any unwelcome sexual intimation or behavior that affects the dignity of men and women at work, and causes abuse or humiliation of others in the workplace, whether verbal, nonverbal, or physical.”

The researchers used the results of a national survey conducted by the Swedish government on working conditions, with the participation of 40,000 employees, as a main data source. Track survey respondents' transition from one workplace to another over time.

“We documented the elevated risks of harassment against minority genders in the workplace,” says Riken. “We asked survey questions about these experiences over the past 12 months by managers or colleagues, and then used a survey experiment to identify significant negative assessments of these risks to workers, especially When you are a victim of same-sex harassment, including the consequences of harassment on wage levels and moving from one job to another.

The study showed that both sexes had a significant aversion to jobs in workplaces where workers are subjected to sexual harassment, but the aversion rates were three times greater when the victim of harassment is of the same sex, and the results indicate that harassment prevents women from taking jobs in workplaces that are sexually harassed. Male-dominated, the same for men.