One in 10 women are sexually assaulted at work, reveals new study

A new BBC survey has found that one in 10 women are sexually assaulted at work.

The study, which was commissioned by BBC Radio 5 and surveyed over 2,000 people, questioned both men and women about sexual harassment in the workplace.

Just like a previous TUC survey, the poll found that half of British women had been sexually harassed either at work or at a place of study.

A fifth of men said they had suffered similar experiences with 79% of male victims keeping the incident to themselves. 63% of women admitted to not reporting cases.

Sexual harassment cases included inappropriate comments and the like while reports of sexual assault focused on things like unwanted groping.

In fact, one in seven of the people surveyed said they had faced inappropriate touching at work.

Some 30% of women had been victims of their boss or another senior staff member with one in ten saying they were forced to leave their job or place of study. This only applied to 12% of men.

The survey was commissioned in light of the Harvey Weinstein scandal in which almost 50 women accused the disgraced film producer of sexual harassment.

The #MeToo hashtag is being used by men and women to describe their own workplace harassment experiences. It has been used almost 2 million times in 85 countries in the last week alone.

On Tuesday, MPs also spoke out in a bid to encourage yet more women to come forward. Labour MP Jess Phillips described how she was attacked by her boss in her early twenties.

“I was working in a bar and I remember going to a party and we went back to someone’s house and my boss was there,” she told the Evening Standard. “I had fallen asleep on the sofa and when I woke up he was undoing my belt and trying to get into my trousers. I was absolutely paralysed with fear. He was loads older than me — maybe 25 years older.

“Someone else came in the room and dragged him off me. Then I went back to work the next day … it’s hard to comprehend that these things are happening until after the event.

“For most women you can look back and say ‘I wish I had told the police’, but knowing what I know in working in sexual violence services I doubt they would have been able to do something.”

The founder of the original #MeToo campaign, Tarana Burke, told BBC Radio 5 how she launched the movement a decade ago to provide “empowerment through empathy.”

She believes the campaign is finally gaining momentum, commenting: “From what I’m seeing and hearing, and from the groundswell of support for this, it doesn’t feel like it’s stopping.

“My ultimate goal is to make sure this is not just a moment, that this is a movement, and we will continue to raise our voices, we will continue to disrupt, we will continue to tell our stories until we are heard and until we move the needle.”

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What to do if you’re experiencing sexual harassment at work

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Women share stories of sexual harassment in the workplace following Harvey Weinstein allegations