20 percent of working women face sexual harassment
May 6, 2011 Filed under News
By Chu Meng
One in five of China’s female workers have been the victim of sexual harassment or bullying in the workplace during the past two years, according to survey results released Monday at the first China Forum for Preventing Harassment in the Workplace.
The survey, conducted by the School of Law at Peking University and Beijing Zhongze Women’s Legal Counseling and Service Center, said sexual harassment remains disturbingly common.
Almost 20 percent of the 1,837 interviewees – 37 percent of whom were men – sampled from a dozen companies in Beijing and the provinces of Guangdong, Jiangsu and Hebei said they had been sexually harassed while at work during the past several years.
Another 24 percent said they had heard of or witnessed the sexual harassment of colleagues.
Female employees in second-tier cities were the most likely to suffer harassment, with 37 percent reporting personal incidents.
The findings were published by the counseling center in preparation for a national campaign against workplace harassment and bullying, set to begin in June under the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
Guo Jianmei, director of the counseling center, said the one-month campaign is aimed at persuading female employers to combat bullying and harassment among their fellow workers.
“Harassment is most common among women seeking to advance their economic position or place in the company. The higher the promotion they see, the more harassment they are willing to endure,” she said.
Harassment affected as many as 40 to 60 percent of the women overall, Guo said. “I believe there are still many female interviewees who keep their harassment secret even on these questionnaires,” Guo said.
The center compiled a manual for 15 company representatives at the conference to warn women employees about how to prevent sexual harassment, listing 10 definitions for the term, such as unwanted ogling, suggestive gestures or language, intentional invasion of one’s personal space and outright sexual solicitation via phone or mail.
Others examples included explicit language, suggestions to trade sex for favors, obscene gestures, unwanted touching and rape.
Six companies established their own systems to prevent sexual harassment at the workplace.
“We hope their proactive example can serve to encourage the drafting of new laws against sexual harassment in the workplace,” Guo said.
Although the Law to Protect the Rights and Interests of Women prohibits sexual harassment, it doesn’t define the term or what kind of evidence should be considered by courts hearing a harassment case, said Liu Ying, a professor at the School of Law at Peking University.
“Given how unenforceable the law is, most women are left to endure harassment or quit. Companies need to establish their own systems to prevent sexual harassment and maintain employee confidentiality,” she said.
Combating harassment may also help companies eager to show off their commitment to social responsibility, she said.
Recent years have also seen male workers falling victim to sexual harassment: 3 percent of male employees reported being harassed and bullied by a female boss.
“Due to Chinese tradition, these men are even more vulnerable. Many of them keep silent about what goes on at the workplace, but bottling up that resentment for too long may one day result in violent retribution,” Liu said.
Many airlines provide anti-harassment training to their flight attendants. CFP Photo
By Chu Meng
One in five of China’s female workers have been the victim of sexual harassment or bullying in the workplace during the past two years, according to survey results released Monday at the first China Forum for Preventing Harassment in the Workplace.
The survey, conducted by the School of Law at Peking University and Beijing Zhongze Women’s Legal Counseling and Service Center, said sexual harassment remains disturbingly common.
Almost 20 percent of the 1,837 interviewees – 37 percent of whom were men – sampled from a dozen companies in Beijing and the provinces of Guangdong, Jiangsu and Hebei said they had been sexually harassed while at work during the past several years.
Another 24 percent said they had heard of or witnessed the sexual harassment of colleagues.
Female employees in second-tier cities were the most likely to suffer harassment, with 37 percent reporting personal incidents.
The findings were published by the counseling center in preparation for a national campaign against workplace harassment and bullying, set to begin in June under the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
Guo Jianmei, director of the counseling center, said the one-month campaign is aimed at persuading female employers to combat bullying and harassment among their fellow workers.
“Harassment is most common among women seeking to advance their economic position or place in the company. The higher the promotion they see, the more harassment they are willing to endure,” she said.
China’s women reach for their half of the sky | China Business Connect | business with china, business from china,business in china,businesses in china,doing business with china on Thu, 25th Aug 2011 11:34 am
[...] Today, there are still no female members of the supreme leadership body, the standing committee of the politburo. Only one fifth of CCP members are female. A recent survey of factory workers reported that20% of female staff said they had been the victims of sexual harassment. [...]