"Black women filed sexual harassment charges at nearly three times the rate of white, non-Hispanic women with the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), according to a new NWLC report that analyzes sexual harassment charges filed by women in the private sector between 2012 and 2016. In every industry, Black women are disproportionately represented among women who filed sexual harassment charges. The Center’s report—Out of the Shadows: An Analysis of Sexual Harassment Charges Filed by Working Women—features intersectional analysis of the data by race, gender, age, and by industry and size of employer.
Although an estimated 87 to 94 percent of individuals who experience workplace sexual harassment never file a formal legal complaint, nearly 7,000 sexual harassment charges were filed with the EEOC in 2016 alone—and 82 percent of these charges were filed by women.
'The statistics confirm that sexual harassment is alive and well across all industries—and women of color working low-wage jobs are facing the brunt of this abuse,' said Emily Martin, Vice President for Education & Workplace Justice at the National Women’s Law Center. 'When companies circle the wagons to protect the power and reputations of harassers, it sends a chilling message: if you speak up, you’ll pay a steep price. We need solutions that ensure safety and dignity at work for everyone.'"
Read the full press release here. Access the Out of the Shadows report here.
