90pc women sexually harassed at workplace

Nine in ten women have suffered sexual discrimination at the workplace.

London: A new study has found that nine in ten women have suffered some form of sexual discrimination at the workplace.

The researchers at the University of Michigan found that 10 percent of the women surveyed had experienced the most severe form of harassment, in which they were promised promotion or better treatment if they were ‘sexually cooperative’. The study questioned women in two male-dominated environments – the US military and the legal profession. It found that although few were subjected to actual advances, such as being groped, 90 percent had been subjected to gender harassment. This included offensive remarks about being female, their appearance, body or sexual activities. The researchers argued that this ‘leads to negative personal and professional outcomes and as such is a serious form of sex discrimination’, reports a news website. Gender harassment ‘creates a hostile environment that disadvantages women’, they said. The findings concluded that harassment victims fared poorly at work. The study is published in Springer’s journal of Law and Human Behaviour. ANI