Sexual harassment is at dangerous levels in the workplace, with a joint Reuters/Ipsos global poll finding one in 10 workers have been pestered for sex by a senior employer.
The survey of about 12,000 people in 24 countries found workers in India were the mostly likely to report sexual harassment, with a report rate of 26 percent.
They were followed by workers in China, with 18 percent reporting sexual harassment, Saudi Arabia at 16 percent, Mexico at 13 percent and South Africa at 10 percent.
In Italy, 9 percent of workers reported being sexually harassed at work, while in Brazil, Russia, South Korea and the US a total of 8 percent of workers reported being pushed for sex by a senior.
The survey comes as experts warn that sexual harassment seems to be on the rise in the workplace, with several high profile cases recently.
Hewlett-Packard chief executive Mark Hurd resigned last week amid an investigation into claims of sexual harassment, and Mark McInnes, former chief executive of upmarket Australian retailer David Jones, quit in June after admitting to “unbecoming behavior” toward a female staff member.
“Where senior people have tried to have sex with employees because they work for them, and not because they wanted a true relationship, it’s not simply harassment, it’s exploitation,” said John Wright, a senior vice president at market research company Ipsos.
The workers who were least likely to have felt sexually harassed in the workplace were from Sweden and France, were only 3 percent of employees reported such incidents.
Only 4 percent of workers in Britain and Australia reported sexual harassment, 5 percent in Poland, Germany and Belgium, and 6 percent in Spain, Japan, Canada and Argentina. Seven percent of Hungarian workers reported sexual harassment.
The poll also found that 7 percent of employees have been intentionally physically assaulted out of anger by a co-worker or manager during their work day.
India again topped the table, with 25 percent of workers saying they had been assaulted at work. Sweden was once again at the bottom, with only 1 percent reporting such an incident.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in