Racial Disparities among Workplace Sexual Harassment and Assault

Sexual harassment is harmful at a social, organizational, and individual level. Victims of sexual harassment or assault experience job loss, fewer raises, loss of credibility and effectiveness, and even physical and mental health problems [1]. Sexual harassment and assault are debilitating for all women, but for women of color sexual harassment becomes more problematic as it most often aligns with racial discrimination [2]. Race and gender intersect in the harassment of women of color in the workplace, these women experience ‘gendered racism’ and they experience ‘racialized sexual harassment. [3]’ It could be said that women of color experience double discrimination when they are sexually harassed, once on a category of race and next on a category of gender [4]. 

The rates that women of color have been sexually harassed have remained almost consistent over the past two decades, whereas the rates of white women being sexually harassed have declined [5]. This could be partially in fault of the changing labor force participation rates, but most of it is due to racial discrepancies. Between 1996 and 2016 the rate that white women would report sexual harassment decreased by more than 70% whereas the rate for women of color only dropped by 38%, highlighting the racial disparity [6]. The below figure shows the difference in colored women reporting workplace sexual harassment as opposed to white women.  The graphs show that the overall reporting rates are falling, though women of color are still found to be more likely to report that they have been sexually harassed in the workplace; and they are more often ignored [7]. Organizational and legal policies are separate for acts of racial discrimination and sexual harassment. However, policies require an update in policies in order to grow with the ever-growing workforce diversity, for sexual harassment and racial discrimination occur simultaneously for women of color [8]. Understanding the marginalized group experiences within the workplace is the place to start to inflict a productive change.

Notes:

  1. Roscigno, Vincent J.. “Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, and the Impact of Workplace Power”. Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World 5 (2019): 237802311985389. doi:10.1177/2378023119853894.

  2. Ibid., 237802311985389.

  3. Richardson, Brian K., and Juandalynn Taylor. “Sexual Harassment at the Intersection of Race and Gender: A Theoretical Model of the Sexual Harassment Experiences of Women of Color”. Western Journal of Communication 73, no. 3 (2009): 248–72. doi:10.1080/10570310903082065.

  4. Ibid., 248-72.

  5. Cassino, Dan, and Besen‐Cassino, Yasemin. “Race, Threat and Workplace Sexual Harassment: The Dynamics of Harassment in the United States, 1997–2016”. Gender, Work Organization 26, no. 9 (2019): 1221–40. doi:10.1111/gwao.12394.

  6. Ibid., 1221-40.

  7. Ibid., 1221-40.

  8. Ibid., 1221-40.

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