Women Will Get It Done: Harassment

48% of currently employed women in the United States say they have personally experienced an “unwelcome sexual advance or verbal or physical harassment” at work.

41% of currently employed men admit that they have personally witnessed the mistreatment of women in the workplace.

67% of women and men think that sexual harassment happens in most if not all work places.

There are no political boundaries to the harassment of women with 44% of Republican women and 46% of Democratic women saying they have personal experience.

55% of women with college educations and 43% of women without a college education have experienced harassment as have 51% of white women and 43% of women of color.

54% of men under the age of 50 years say they are reconsidering how they interact with women but only 42% of men over age 50 share that interest. 61% of Democratic men, 44% of Republican men and 43% of independent man are in the “reconsidering” group. [NBC/WSJ, 10/26/17]


75% believe that sexual harassment of women in the workplace is a problem in this country. 64% see it as a serious problem.

65% believe that a man who sexually harasses a women in the workplace “gets away with it.”

Of women who have experienced unwanted workplace-related sexual advances, 33% consider it to be sexual abuse while 79% consider it to be harassment.

58% of women who experienced unwanted sexual advances in the workplace did not report it. 42% did.

Among women who have experienced unwanted workplace-related sexual advances, 83% are angry, 64% feel intimidated, 52% feel humiliated and 31% are ashamed. [ABC/WP, 10/17/17]


55% of Americans believe that women still face significant obstacles to getting ahead that men do not face. This includes 64% of women but only 46% of men. 63% of Rep/leanRep including 53% of Republican women believe that the obstacles that once made it harder for women to get ahead are largely gone.

73% of Dem/leanDem, including 79% of Dem/lean women, believe the obstacles remain. [PEW, 10/5/17]


The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate of all industrialized countries. For every 100,000 babies born, 26.5% of mothers die in childbirth.

The number is 7.3% in Canada and 7.2% in Western Europe. The U.S. is one of a handful of countries where the problem has gotten worse not better over the last three decades. [Broadsheet, 10/30/17]


44% of women but only 29% of men think that discrimination in the tech industry is a major problem. Further, 33% of women and 19% of men think there is more discrimination against women in the tech industry than in other industries.[PEW 10/10/17]


“Nikon has a serious optics problem. The Japanese camera giant chose 32 professional photographers across Asia and Africa to test-drive and promote its new camera, the D850. Of the 32 photographers chosen, Nikon managed to pick zero women.

“What is so obvious to me – a professional photographer – as well as colleagues, photography bloggers and social media users, was not obvious to Nikon. Instead, it seemed to have worked on the campaign, from the concept stage through to development, marketing and public relations, without a thought for its female clients.”
[Gender Avenger, 9/19/17]


Japan ranks 165th of 193 countries in the proportion of women in its national legislature. Among the world’s richest countries, it is dead last. [NYT, 10/21/17]