Forty-three percent of women polled have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace, among which nearly 90 percent said that they kept silent, a survey released yesterday by the Modern Women’s Foundation showed.
Of the survey’s respondents, the majority, or 63.5 percent, said they were harassed physically, while 60.9 percent said they were verbally harassed.
The survey found that 37.1 percent were subject to unwelcome advances, staring and the distribution of pictures or messages of a highly sexualized nature.
The foundation said that 41.7 percent of those harassed were targeted by their supervisors, and among them, 13.8 percent said that their harasser was the ranking manager.
Of those polled, 39.3 percent said that they were harassed by their colleagues.
The survey found that 87.3 percent of companies failed to address the complaints or implement measures to correct the issue immediately after the complaint.
Of those companies, 64.2 percent said they were not informed of the problem, while 23.1 percent simply failed to take action.
Foundation president Jennifer Wang (王如玄) told a news conference that sexual harassment should not be written off as a one-off gesture made “for fun,” as the person being harassed could have an emotional breakdown or their work performance might deteriorate.
Shih Chen-hsu (施貞夙), an official at the Taipei City Government’s Department of Labor who also attended the news conference, said that the department has received a major increase in sexual harassment complaints, but nearly half of them have been withdrawn due to pressure from the person’s superiors or office culture.
Shih said that 88 percent of companies with more than 30 employees have sexual harassment regulations in place, but only 12 firms have obtained the Taipei City Government’s gender equality certificate.
The survey, conducted between Jan. 8 and Feb. 16, collected 1,057 valid online questionnaires filled out by Taiwanese women, the foundation said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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