1 in 3 women in Hong Kong sexually harassed at work, but most stay quiet – survey
Hong Kong Free Press
Over one-third of women in Hong Kong said they experienced sexual harassment at work, a survey has found, with a majority of them staying silent about their experiences.
Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) lawmaker Elizabeth Quat announced the results of the survey at a press conference on Sunday, ahead of International Women’s Day this week. She urged firms to set anti-sexual harassment guidelines and establish complaint mechanisms so that victims can seek help.
Of the 311 women surveyed, more than one-third said they had encountered sexual harassment at work over the past three years, Quat said.
Almost 20 per cent of the incidents involved text-based harassment or messages such as being sent dirty jokes or pictures. More than 18 per cent of harassment involved bodily contact.
Around 60 per cent of those who said they faced sexual harassment, however, did not report their experiences.
The most cited reasons included believing that harassment was not unusual, with more 27 per cent agreeing with this statement. Around 25 per cent said they feared that reporting would worsen the situation, while 17.5 per cent thought reporting would not help.
“Many think that encountering perverted colleagues or situations where they feel offended are not anything unusual… they think complaining would be useless, that nobody would care if they complained, or if complaining would cause them to lose their jobs,” Quat said in Cantonese.
Employers’ responsibilities
The survey was conducted online in February by the DAB’s women’s affairs committee, together with the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), the Hong Kong Small and Medium Enterprises Association, the Greater Bay Area Hong Kong Women Entrepreneurs Association, and the Hong Kong Island Women’s Association.
Among the 104 companies surveyed, only 45.2 per cent had set anti-sexual harassment guidelines. Over 90 per cent of the firms said their employees had not received training related to workplace sexual harassment, Quat said.
The lawmaker said companies should add anti-sexual harassment to their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies. She said companies often focused on environmental principles, and there was less regard for how to support women, which falls under social and governance matters.
“Given we want more women to come out and work, to work happily and show their talents, we have the responsibility to offer them a healthy and respectful environment,” Quat said.
Speaking in the same press conference, the EOC’s executive director of operations, Ferrick Chu, said the survey’s results were consistent with their observations.
He said the EOC’s research a few years ago, in which the group spoke to over 1,000 women, found that around one in eight said they faced workplace sexual harassment.
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