Sexual harassment occurs in virtually all Indiana industries. However, research shows that employees who work in certain sectors face a higher chance of falling victim to it than those employed in others. Women, in particular, face more instances of work-related sexual harassment than men, and women in technology are especially at risk.
According to CNBC, more than 40% of women who work in technology say they have faced sexual harassment at the hands of either a boss or an investor.
How often women in technology face harassment
A survey of more than 1,000 female employees of the tech industry showed that 48% of them had experienced some type of harassment on the job, with 42% saying that harassment came from someone who held a position of power over them. About 43% of those who experienced sexual harassment at a tech job said the harassment was sexual in nature. This might include unwanted comments, emails, texts or touches, among other possible examples.
How often women in tech report sexual harassment
Research shows that the majority of women in tech who experience sexual harassment never make formal reports about their experiences. Only about 45% of female tech workers who face harassment report the incidents to their superiors, and 67% of women say they would hesitate to do so because they lack faith in their employer or employer’s human resources department’s ability to address their reports. Even women at the top of the tech field face high rates of harassment, with 44% of female tech industry business founders reporting experiencing sexual harassment, too.
Some believe the sexual harassment problem is so pervasive in technology because the industry has historically done a poor job of holding harassers accountable.
