Women Execs: Think You'll be Exempt from Sexual Harassment? Guess Again

I don't suppose it comes as a surprise but women in leadership positions face more sexual harassment.

 I was never in a position of power but I worked with lots of male co-workers and vendors and there were a couple of times -- well, maybe, quite a few more -- I was touched inappropriately.

Power in the workplace does not stop women's exposure to sexual harassment, according to newswise.com. "On the contrary, women with supervisory positions are harassed more than women employees," the web site reports. These are the results from a new study from the Swedish Institute for Social Research at Stockholm University, which examined the conditions in Sweden, USA and Japan.
By analyzing the responses from three surveys, researchers at the Swedish Institute for Social Research, SOFI, at Stockholm University, together with fellow American and Japanese researchers, have studied the prevalence of sexual harassment across the organizational hierarchy. 
"The study shows that women with supervisory positions experienced between 30 and 100 per cent more sexual harassment than other women employees. This was true across the United States, Japan, and Sweden, three countries with different gender norms and levels of gender equality in the labor market," newswise points out. 
As was true in my situations (at various Fortune 500 companies), comparing levels of leadership, exposure to harassment was greatest at lower levels of leadership, but remained substantial and similar to the level of harassment for the highest positions.
"When you think about it, there are logical explanations: a supervisor is exposed to new groups of potential perpetrators. She can be harassed both from her subordinates and from higher-level management within the company. More harassment from these two groups is also what we saw when we asked the women who had harassed them," the web site quotes Johanna Rickne, professor of economics at SOFI.
In all three countries, women with supervisory positions were subject to more harassment when their subordinates consisted of mostly men.
"Sexual harassment means that women's career advancement comes at a higher cost than men's, especially in male-dominated industries and firms," she adds. "Additional survey data from the United States and Japan showed that harassment of supervisors was not only more common than for employees, but was also followed by more negative professional and social consequences. This included getting a reputation of being a 'trouble maker' and missing out on promotions or training," says Olle Folke, affiliated researcher at SOFI and associate professor at Uppsala University.
The study used two different measurement tools. The surveys in the United States and Japan included the Sexual Experiences Questionnaire, a survey instrument with a list of behaviors, developed for studies in the US military. All three countries were also surveyed with subjective questions about whether the person had been exposed to sexual harassment. The time span for all questions was the previous 12 months.
So it's still going strong, despite all the progress of Me, Too. Women need to be conscious of setting boundaries and reporting any behavior that is offensive or abusive.






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