In order to understand the situation of sexual harassment in Hong Kong, the Equal Opportunities Commission conducted a study last year, including Hong Kong people's awareness of sexual harassment, online sexual harassment and workplace sexual harassment.
One-sixth of the respondents said they had been sexually harassed online, and nearly one-eighth of them said they had been sexually harassed at work in the year before the survey, but few victims reported it to the relevant authorities.
More than half of the respondents were not aware of the fact that the other party continued to send them out invitations to date even when they refused, which made people feel uncomfortable and offended at the time, which is already harassing behavior.
The EOC recommends that employers develop clear corporate sexual harassment policies and take disciplinary action.
The 2021 Territory-wide Sexual Harassment Survey was conducted by the Equal Opportunities Commission by telephone from March 22 to June 10 last year.
The EOC successfully interviewed 5,027 citizens aged 18 to 64, including foreign domestic helpers working in Hong Kong.
(Photo by Zeng Fengting)
The 2021 Territory-wide Sexual Harassment Survey was conducted by the Equal Opportunities Commission by telephone from March 22 to June 10 last year. It successfully interviewed 5,027 citizens aged 18 to 64, including foreign domestic helpers working in Hong Kong.
The survey found that the respondents' awareness of sexual harassment was generally high. On a 100-point sexual harassment awareness index, the average score was 80.26 points. Male respondents' awareness was slightly lower than that of women. Respondents have relatively high awareness of sexual harassment.
The survey also found that more than half of the respondents were not aware of the fact that when shopping, the store staff told other customers about sexual topics or jokes in front of them, and that colleagues in the company continued to send them dating invitations even when the other party said no. , which makes people feel uncomfortable and offended at the time, and is already harassing.
More male victims of online sexual harassment
Zhu Chongwen, executive director of the EOC, pointed out that in the past, the public believed that the continuous dating invitation to the opposite sex was repeatedly rejected, but it was only one of the means to pursue women or men. Zhu Chongwen said that as long as the other party has repeatedly refused and felt uncomfortable with the behavior, or some bystanders feel that the behavior is inappropriate, the behavior of harassment is the same as other uncomfortable harassment.
Zhu Chongwen, executive director of the EOC, pointed out that in the past, the public believed that the continuous dating invitation to the opposite sex was repeatedly rejected, but it was only one of the means to pursue women or men. Zhu Chongwen said that as long as the other party has repeatedly refused and felt uncomfortable with the behavior, or some bystanders feel that the behavior is inappropriate, the behavior of harassment is the same as other uncomfortable harassment.
(Photo by Zeng Fengting)
In terms of online sexual harassment, more than 90% of the respondents have used the Internet, and one-sixth of them said that they had been sexually harassed online in the year before the survey, and the sexual harassment of men was slightly higher than that of women. Visitors are also more vulnerable to online sexual harassment.
The most common forms of online sexual harassment are mainly receiving indecent photos or videos, receiving sexually suggestive messages, and sending them sexual remarks or jokes that make the person being sexually harassed feel offended.
Victims of summer jobs and interns mostly choose to be dumb
In terms of workplace sexual harassment, nearly 80% of the 3,928 on-the-job respondents indicated that they had been sexually harassed at work within the year before the survey, especially for summer workers and interns. 15% and 25.5% had experienced sexual harassment respectively. , while young people and women are more likely to be sexually harassed, with a 2 to 1 male-to-female ratio of harassers.
Among them, female victims are mostly sexually harassed by higher-ranking people, and the most common form of sexual harassment in the workplace is to talk about sexual topics or jokes.
The EOC refers to interns and summer jobs, or because they are not long-term jobs, in order to obtain a recommendation letter from an agency, they often choose to hold back and not report when they encounter sexual harassment in the workplace.
Less than 20% of victims report to relevant departments
Among respondents who had been sexually harassed, nearly 80% had taken action on the last incident of sexual harassment, 60% chose to avoid the harasser, followed by reprimanding the harasser, and only nearly 15% of them reported to the police, EOC or their superiors and their colleagues. Relevant departments or management of the company made a formal report, reflecting that when Hong Kong people encountered workplace sexual harassment, the victims took relatively passive actions to deal with them.
After taking action, nearly 80% of the respondents said that the harasser had stopped harassing behavior, but a small number of whistleblowers were seen as causing trouble and being retaliated or ostracized.
As for bystanders, 40% of them pointed out that the recent workplace sexual harassment was witnessed or learned by others, but only 10% of the cases had a third party intervening or preventing it.
2.3% of the respondents who had never been sexually harassed said they had witnessed workplace sexual harassment incidents, of which 70% had intervened in the incident. Of the remaining respondents who had not been involved in the incident, nearly half said they didn’t know what to do, and 30% said they didn’t know what to do at the time. Find out if the incident constitutes sexual harassment.
The EOC suggested that bystanders could lend a helping hand to intervene in sexual harassment incidents, and pointed out that surveys revealed that harassers mostly stopped harassing behavior when someone took action.
In addition, all large and small companies or organizations as employers should formulate clear corporate anti-sexual harassment policies, such as establishing an effective complaint handling mechanism, taking disciplinary or appropriate actions, taking timely improvement measures, and regularly providing employees with training to enhance anti-sexual harassment awareness, so that citizens can When faced with sexual harassment, have the courage to speak up about your situation.
In terms of education, institutions should also provide sexual harassment awareness training to students, such as teaching skills and knowledge to deal with sexual harassment.
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