Sexual Harassment of Women

National Academy of Sciences, 2018

Reports published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engi neering, and Medicine document the evidence-based consensus on the study's statement of task by an authoring committee of experts. Reports typically include findings, conclusions, and recommendations based on information gathered by the committee and the committee's deliberations. Each report has been subjected to a rigorous and independent peer-review process and it represents the position of the National Academies on the statement of task.

Sexual harassment abounds in academia. We know this from a 2018 report published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (1). As members of the committee who authored that report,* we have presented its findings to colleges and universities around the country. It has been deeply gratifying to see so many leaders want to address sexual harassment in their institutions. But according to a large body of social science evidence, the strategies that many of these same leaders are pursuing simply don't work. Academia should lead and inspire change in other organizations. Instead, we have the highest rate of sexual harassment after the military (2). Several problems stand in the way of effective institutional response to sexual harassment: oversexualization of the problem, overreliance on fast fixes that fail to grapple with long histories of exclusion in the academy, and overemphasis on formal legal compliance. We need a radical redesign of anti-harassment efforts in higher education. This is a tall order, but decades of research can guide this work and brave leaders can implement it.

2018

In a qualitative study of 40 women faculty in sciences, engineering, and medicine (http://sites.nationalacademies.org/SexualHarrassment.htm), respondents at all career levels and fields reported a range of sexual harassment experiences, including gender-based harassment (e.g., gendered insults, lewd comments), unwanted sexual advances, stalking, and sexual assault by a colleague. Sexual harassment experiences often diminished study participants' scientific productivity as energy was diverted into efforts to process emotional responses, manage the perpetrator, report the harassment, or work to prevent recurrences. Many women who experienced sexual harassment adjusted their work habits and withdrew physically or interpersonally from their departments, colleagues, and fields. Study participants who disclosed harassment to a supervisor or department leader often reported that the reactions they received made them feel dismissed and minimized. Sympathetic responses were often met wit...

Journal of Vocational Behavior, 1988

Although only recently reaching public and scholarly awareness as an important issue, the sexual harassment of women workers and students has been a problem for as long as women have worked and studied outside the home. Although now recognized as an important barrier to women's career development, sexual harassment has proven difficult to study due to the lack of a commonly accepted definition and any standardized instrumentation that could provide comparable

In addressing gender inequality within academia, research acknowledges the role of organizational practices and cultures that reproduce gender bias, stereotypes, and covert barriers to women's academic careers. One such discriminatory practice in academic institutions is subtle and often hidden: sexual harassment. The fact that sexual harassment remains often hidden has also challenged researchers in search of representative data. Sexual harassment is often not a priority or even thought to be an issue, which makes fighting it especially difficult. Finally, if academic institutions are also educational bodies, students and their study environments need to be considered in the analysis of sexual harassment. Fighting sexual harassment should therefore be an essential part of well-bing policies and, by extension of policies menat to create a gender-friendly work environment or to foster gender equality within academia. In turn, fostering a gender-equality culture within the institution can also contribute to fighting sexual harassment.

Journal of Vocational …, 1988

2020

Sexuality & Culture, 2020

The recent upheaval and outcry over sexual abuse and harassment of women in academic institutions have raised serious concern and questions over the relationship between men and women (Ridde et al. 2019; Johnson et al. 2018). The rapid increase and reporting of cases related to gender-based harassment, unwanted sexual attention, sexual imposition, and sexual coercion demand a critical examination of underlying causes of such behaviour and men-women relationship in academic institutions (Gohain 2018). The relationship between men and women cannot be harmonious when women are scared and suspicious of their male supervisors, boss, colleagues, and co-workers. Men and women are in close contact and in working relationship in all spheres of their life; nevertheless, they are suspicious of each other, divided, and living in their own world to avoid tarnishing their reputation (McCulloch 2019). After the 'Me Too' and 'Time's up' campaign, many men follow 'Billy Graham rule' to 'avoid any situation that would have even the appearance of compromise or suspicion' to avoid tarnishing their reputation by either falling prey to sexual temptation or inviting gossip about impropriety (Connley 2019; Johnson and Smith 2017). It often alienates women and generates a sense of mistrust and vulnerability among them. The sexual abuse and harassment of women in academia are historical and not new (Ridde et al. 2019). Nevertheless, the 'Me too' campaign and other similar campaigns globally have shown that women are vulnerable to sexual abuse and harassment globally. A recent study on Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine by Johnson et al. (2018) shows that harassment of women is not limited to particular disciplines. The authors cite a recent study of the Pennsylvania State University system where 33% of female undergraduates and 43% of graduate students in all disciplines reported experiencing sexual harassment from faculty or staff. According to the report, 50% of female

2022

I wish to thank everyone who has contributed to the project during the past several years! This book represents a very important part of the work, and I want to thank all the authors, especially Øystein Gullvåg Holter and Lotta Snickare, for their major efforts in producing, analyzing, and disseminating knowledge gathered from our organization. This knowledge has been compiled in such a way that it should be highly useful to others working for a gender-equal academia and working life. In addition to the authors, I wish to thank the project's administrative leaders, the project coordinators, steering committees, research groups, project participants, partners at UiO and KTH, heads of departments, and the dean's office at the MN faculty. Additionally, many thanks to the Research Council of Norway, which has funded and followed the project with great enthusiasm. I hope the readers of this book will find the project and research findings interesting. I also hope that the book can contribute to the important work of change currently happening in Norway and other countries! Professor Solveig Kristensen, Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and project leader of FRONT, University of Oslo Oslo, 1 November 2022 The most significant findings presented in in the first part of the book are further analyzed and discussed in the book's second part. The third part addresses measures for and solutions to the problems. This first part consists of the following chapters: Chapter one "Gender-Equal Imbalance?" introduces the faculty as a workplace, and explores the different perceptions of gender equality and gender balance among women and men. Chapter two "Men, Masculinities and Professional Hierarchies" addresses gender and equality focusing on men, and how academic prestige is connected with masculinity. Chapter three "Sexual Harassment: Not an Isolated Problem" describes the extent of sexual harassment, and the most common aspects of the work environment connected with this problem. Chapter four "Who Is Publishing What? How Gender Influences Publication" addresses questions regarding scientific productivity, focusing on whether women publish less than men and if so, why. Chapter five "Experiences in Academia: A New Survey Study" describes and summarizes one of the main findings of the study: a gender gap in terms of experiences and obstacles in one's career. Chapter six "Ethnicity, Racism and Intersectionality" looks at diversity and social imbalance from a broader perspective, not only gender balance. The chapter focuses on ethnicity and how various dimensions such as gender, ethnicity and class are entwined.

Cureus

Background Current estimates of sexual harassment across the academic hierarchy are subject to recall bias and have limited comparability between studies due to inconsistent time frames queried for each stage of training. No studies have surveyed medical students, residents/fellows, and faculty collectively and many studies exclude a wide range of sexual harassment behaviors. We assessed the incidence of sexual harassment across the different stages of academic medicine over the same time frame and within the same institutional culture. Methodology Medical students, residents/fellows, and faculty at the same academic medical campus completed a prospective online study of sexual harassment experiences in 2018. We used a tool that comprehensively assessed sexual harassment behaviors and asked about the perpetrators. Pearson's chi-square and Fisher's exact tests (for cell counts <5) were used to compare responses by academic status and gender. Participants were also asked to suggest ways to improve knowledge about university/hospital policies, support services, and reporting process on sexual harassment. Results One-third of 515 respondents (18% of invitations) reported experiencing sexual harassment in 2018. Overall, 52% of medical students, 31% of residents/fellows, and 25% of faculty respondents experienced sexual harassment. Of these, 46% of women and 19% of men reported sexual harassment experiences. The most common experiences across all levels of academic hierarchy were offensive and sexually suggestive comments or jokes and offensive and intrusive questions about one's private life or physical appearance. The most common perpetrators were "student, intern, resident, or fellow," followed by "patient or patient's family member." To improve knowledge about the policies and services regarding sexual harassment, participants suggested facilitating easy access to resources, increasing awareness, assuring confidentiality, protecting against retaliation, and continued education and reminders about the topic. Conclusions Sexual harassment may be more prevalent than the literature suggests and incidence tends to decrease with increasing academic hierarchy. Harassment can often be subtle and can pass under the radar.