Men underestimate level of sexual harassment against women

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Thursday, December 06, 2018

"Men greatly underestimate the level of sexual harassment experienced by women, according to a new survey.

When asked what proportion of women had experienced any form of sexual harassment, both male and female respondents across the US and 12 European countries, including Great Britain, underestimated the levels experienced by women.

The biggest misconceptions were held by Danish, Dutch and French respondents, who underestimated the actual level of sexual harassment in their countries by 49, 35 and 34 percentage points respectively.

...Laura Bates, who set up the Everyday Sexism Project, which chronicles women’s daily experiences of gender inequality, said the lack of willingness among men to recognize the extent of sexual harassment was holding back efforts to tackle it.

She said: 'That this survey comes a year after #MeToo, suggests that we have a real problem believing women and taking them seriously. That so many women have been brave enough to tell stories with devastating personal consequences to hear that they are still not being believed is very difficult to cope with. We need a critical mass of men to stand up and get involved to tackle this problem and become part of the solution.'”

Read the full article here.

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