Half of Female Workers Harassed at Drinking Parties
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
A 28-year-old female worker at a public company, who identified herself only by the surname Lee, got angry during a recent drinking bout after a male senior worker hugged her and forcibly danced with her.
``I managed to escape from his grip. I was angry but did not expressed my anger to him, because he was so drunk and I though he would not remember it at all the next day anyway,’’ Lee said.
Lee was not the only one having such an unpleasant experience ― according to a survey by a recruitment company Saramin of 729 female employees, 52.3 percent, or 381, said they have experienced sexual harassment at drinking sessions. Some 39 percent said they have been harassed not only at drinking parties but also during work.
When multiple replies were allowed, the surveyed women said they suffered from physical contact such as hugging (74 percent), dirty jokes (41.7 percent), jokes about their body shape or appearance (30.7 percent), pressure to serve drinks to men, and questions about their sexual experience. Twenty-one respondents even said male senior staff or co-workers asked them to have sex with them.
About half of the harassment was from immediate superiors, followed by top managers and co-workers.
Like Lee, however, most of the female victims did not actively react ― some 51 percent said they just let it go, while 22.8 percent clearly said ``no’’ to the harassers. They said their inactivity in dealing with the cases was due to the fact that their reaction was unlikely to change the situation (33.8 percent), they could escape from the situation (18.5 percent), and they were afraid of possible repercussions from senior staff.