The role of gender composition in workplace sexual harassment

Abstract

Abstract Background Workplace sexual harassment is associated with adverse mental health consequences and research suggests that gender minority status may be a risk factor. We analysed the prevalence of workplace sexual harassment in male and female-dominated-occupations to elucidate the role of gender minority status. Methods We analysed data from a survey (n = 9,012) on sexual harassment from a random sample representative of the Danish workforce. We measured sexual harassment by 21 items covering three domains: (1) unwanted sexual attention, (2) gender harassment and (3) sexual coercion. We focused on sexual harassment conducted by other employees at the workplace. We categorized the gender-ratio for male- or female-dominated occupations into: low (under 25%), medium (25% - 75%), and high (more than 75%). Results We found an increased risk of sexual harassment in both male and female dominated occupations. Women in male dominated occupations had higher risk, with prevalences of 25.3% (95%CI 19.5; 31.1) for high, 21.8% (95%CI 19.1; 24.3) for medium, and 10.4% (95%CI: 8.1; 12.8) for low proportion of men. We found similar patterns across all three domains of harassing behaviours. For men, the pattern in relation to female-dominated occupations was slightly different. We found that men had the lowest risk of sexual harassment in gender-balanced occupations. The prevalence for men in occupations with medium proportion of women was 14.0% (95%CI: 11.9; 16.1), whereas the prevalence for men in occupations with high proportion of women was 21.1% (95%CI: 13.3; 28.8), and it was 16.1% (95%CI: 12.7; 19.5) in occupations with low proportion of women. We saw similar patterns in all domains except gender harassment. Conclusions Both men and women were most likely to report sexual harassment in occupations where they were a gender minority. The results highlight the role of gender composition in workplace sexual harassment and calls for further attention on prevention in high risk groups. Key messages • Both men and women reported more often sexual harassment when they were a gender minority in their occupation. • For women, prevalence of sexual harassment was lowest in occupations with a low proportion of men, whereas for men, prevalence of sexual harassment was lowest in occupations with gender-balance.