How common is sexual harassment?

Sexual harassment.

It’s an ugly thing.

It is way too common.

However, I want to point out that for every man who has made a comment meant to bother or hurt me, there are more who have been supportive and would stand up for me.  I have great respect for these men of integrity and self-confidence, who are not afraid to speak up when they see something they consider wrong.

When I first was hired in the union and given an apprenticeship, there were no other women working in the union I joined. I know many of the membership had misgivings about the wisdom of this decision. Most of them had probably never worked with a woman before.

I knew this, of course, as I went to my first jobs.  I knew that the guys would be looking at me with curiosity, wondering if I could “handle” the job. I was younger then, and cheekier. I found that using humour would put most of the guys at ease.

I was lucky, and didn’t have too many problems with the people I worked with over the years.  I have read other women’s accounts of their experiences in the trades, the harassment they endured, and some are really terrible. Some of these women left their jobs and are scarred and bitter about what happened to them.

I can’t help but wonder about the type of men who would harass someone this way.  I realize of course that there are people in this world who are not good.  There are social misfits, bullies, sadists, sociopaths and other nasty personalities in every culture the world over.  They are rare, though. More common is the guy who observes bullying behaviour and does not interfere. The news is full of accounts of victims of harassment or violence where the onlookers did nothing to stop it.

I have read how these harassers pick their victims, trying to find people who are easy to bully. I realize this is probably how it is, but I’m uncomfortable with this theory as it seems to put the blame partially on the victim. 

Are we more likely to be victims because we’re women?

Are employers leery of hiring us because we’re more likely to be harassed?

I think this is more likely the truth than the excuse that we can’t do the job because we’re women.

In the news, we always hear about the negative things that happen.  I would love a statistic about how many women work in predominantly male jobs and have few or no problems.

Unfortunately, I think more women than not have experienced harassment at the worksite.