Sexual Harassment Facts
Here are some interesting statistics about the occurrence and demographics of sexual harassment.
 | According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), in 1994 more than 14,400 women claimed they were sexually harassed at work&emdash;a number that has more than doubled since 1991. Complaints filed by men tripled from 481 to nearly 1,500. Ten percent of all complaints filed are harassment of men by female supervisors. |
| In 1994, the Equal Opportunity Commission received 14,420 sexual harassment claims, up from 5,623 in 1989. Yet only 5% ever file formal charges and 90% of cases go unreported. |
| According to a poll conducted in May of 1995 by the Society for Human Resource Management, 63% of companies surveyed view sexual harassment as a real problem. Three-quarters of them offer training programs, and 97% have instituted written policies on sexual harassment. |
| It is estimated that 50 to 85% of American females will experience some form of sexual harassment during their academic or working lives. Yet, just 25% ever tell anyone. |
| According to U.S. News and World Report, women constituted 46% of the workforce in 1995. Their productivity has proven critical to the nation's economic health. |
| A 1990 survey was conducted by Working Woman magazine involving 3,300,000 employees at 160 corporations. Data reflected that in a typical Fortune 500 company with 23,750 employees, sexual harassment costs $6,700,000 per year in absenteeism, low productivity and employee turnover. This, in turn, represents $282.53 per employee. Findings did not include the indirect, hard-to-measure expenses of legal defense, time lost, and tarnished public image. |
| Recent research by the author/analyst, Freada Klein in Cambridge, Massachusetts confirm that the data are still valid. However, anecdotal evidence suggests today's costs may be even higher. |
