Sexual Harassment Statistics By Dan Atkerson on March 12, 2020

Despite stringent employment laws that forbid workplace discrimination, many employees in the United States report facing some type of discriminatory treatment. One of the most common types of workplace discrimination is gender discrimination.

Gender discrimination refers to any situation in which a person is treated differently or less favorably based on gender. Sexual harassment falls under the category of gender discrimination. As the Me Too movement has helped bring to light, sexual harassment is a very real problem.

Here, sexual harassment lawyer Dan A. Atkerson presents sexual harassment statistics to show those in the Allen, TX, Plano, TX, Frisco, TX, and surrounding areas dealing with this type of gender-based mistreatment that they are not alone.

What Is Sexual Harassment?

Before we go into the statistics regarding workplace sexual harassment, it is important to understand what type of behavior is defined as sexual harassment. Many people mistakenly believe that physical advancements need to be made for a case to be classified as sexual harassment. In actuality, sexual harassment may involve any unwanted verbal, nonverbal, or physical actions, including:

Sexual comments
Comments on a person’s gender
Lewd gestures
Requests for sexual favors
Unwanted touching

How Common Is Sexual Harassment?

Another misconception regarding sexual harassment is that it is an old-school problem that doesn’t still occur in today’s workplace. Sexual harassment is actually much more common than many of our clients realize.

According to a poll recently conducted by NBC News and the Wallstreet Journal, 48 percent of currently employed women report experiencing some type of unwanted sexual advance or harassment while at work. When asked specifically about female sexual harassment, 41 percent of currently employed surveyed men admit to witnessing a woman being mistreated in the workplace.

How Many Cases of Sexual Harassment Are Reported?

Unfortunately, although statistics indicate that nearly half of working women have been victims of sexual harassment, far fewer report the behavior. It is likely that victims of sexual harassment fear retaliation, or question whether their accusations will be taken seriously.

According to data from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, allegations of workplace sex-based harassment have remained pretty consistent for the last 10 years. Each year there have been almost 13,000 reported cases of sex-based harassment, with 12,739 charges brought in 2019.

Charges of sexual harassment account for about half of all sex-based harassment charges. In 2019, there were 7,514 charges of sexual harassment filed with the EEOC.

Does Sexual Harassment Only Affect Women?

A lot of attention has been brought to sexual harassment faced by women in the workplace, and they certainly account for the majority of sexual harassment charges. However, men are sexually harassed at work as well. Of the 7,514 charges of sexual harassment filed with the EEOC in 2019, 16.8 percent were filed by men. We can assume that, as is the case with women, the reported charges of sexual harassment filed by men only account for a small percent of the actual instances of male sexual harassment.

Contact Us

If you are a man or woman who has experienced workplace sexual harassment, you may be due financial compensation for resulting damages. Attorney Dan A. Atkerson, serving Allen, Frisco, Plano, and surrounding areas, can guide you through the process of filing sexual harassment charges, and fight on your behalf to collect the compensation you are due. To learn more, send us a message at your earliest convenience, or call our law firm at (214) 383-3606.