Even When Experiencing Sexual Harassment at Work, Victims Endure or Pretend Not to Know... "No Improvements and Fear of Disadvantages"

Jikjang Gapjil 119 Conducts Online Survey of 1,000 Workers
1 in 10 Faces Persistent Unwanted Advances
72% Respondents Support Company Rule Banning Workplace Romance Between Boss and Junior

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] One out of ten office workers in South Korea has experienced persistent unwanted advances from a colleague during their work life. Among the respondents, 25.8% of women and 10.9% of men reported experiences of sexual harassment and sexual assault.

On the 11th, the civic group Workplace Bullying 119 commissioned the public opinion research firm Embrain Public to conduct an online survey from the 14th to the 21st of last month. The survey found that 11% of respondents said they had been persistently pursued by an unwanted person. The rate of unwanted advances was higher among women (14.9%) than men (8.1%), and higher among non-regular workers (13.8%) than regular workers (9.2%). In one case reported to Workplace Bullying 119, an office worker named A experienced verbal abuse after rejecting a supervisor’s request for a private meeting and had to take on tasks previously handled by subordinates. A revealed, "The supervisor forced me to have lunch together and said he felt 'jealous' when I ate with other employees."

Workplace Bullying 119 also asked for opinions on the establishment of company rules banning workplace romances. The group cited the example of the American company Google, which prohibits private romantic relationships between supervisors with authority over evaluations and their subordinates, and asked whether Korean companies should also establish employment rules banning private relationships between superiors and subordinates at work. In response, 70% of male respondents and 74.7% of female respondents agreed, with 72% of all respondents supporting the measure.

When asked whether they had experienced sexual harassment or sexual assault after starting work, 25.8% of women and 10.9% of men answered "yes." The perpetrators were mostly superiors (45.9%) and executives (22.5%).

Regarding responses to sexual victimization (multiple answers allowed), 63.1% said they "endured it or pretended not to know," but 37.8% of victims said they quit their jobs. When asked why they did not report the incidents at the time, more than half (52.4%) said "because they felt nothing would improve even if they responded," followed by "fear of retaliation" (24.1%) and "dislike of the fact becoming known" (15.1%).

Among respondents who said they had experienced sexual harassment, 37.7% were women and 22.2% were men. The most common response to sexual harassment was also "endured it or pretended not to know" (65.2%). The status of sexual harassment perpetrators was superiors (45.9%), executives (21.4%), and colleagues of similar rank (18.6%). When asked whether companies adequately protect victims from workplace sexual crimes, 51.5% of all respondents answered "no," which was higher than the 48.5% who answered "yes."

The survey included 1,000 office workers nationwide (570 men and 430 women). The confidence level was 95%, with a sampling error of ±3.1 percentage points.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.