Nearly half of the female scientists who have experienced sexual harassment (47%), which happened after the #MeToo movement’s emergence, experienced it within the last five years.
One in two (49%) female scientists report having personally dealt with sexual harassment on work at least once in the course of their careers.
Nearly half of the female scientists who have experienced sexual harassment (47%), which happened after the #MeToo movement’s emergence, experienced it within the last five years; for almost a quarter of the victims (24%), it happened within the past two years.
For 65% of them, their careers and engagement in science were negatively impacted by the sexual harassment situations they encountered.
Only one in five (19%) victims of sexual harassment have come forward within their institution, compared to just over half (53%) who have come forward outside of it.
Seven out of ten scientists believe that there is not enough discussion of sexual harassment and sexism in the scientific community. Furthermore, 64% of the respondents regretted the lack of action taken to stop or combat workplace sexual harassment.
The L’Oréal Foundation conducted a larger-scale study to better identify the difficulties faced by women in science. The results showed that 49% of women report having experienced sexual harassment at work in the scientific community, or one in two women scientists.
While the research and science community is not free from violence, the reporting of abuse does not seem to have resonated in the same way, especially in this sector where women remain particularly underrepresented.
The #Metoo movement, which began in October 2017, has not sufficiently changed the behaviour of scientists: for 47% of victims, these incidents occurred within the past five years, and for nearly a quarter (24%) less than two years ago. Unsurprisingly, young female researchers are more likely to experience sexual harassment.
According to the study, 64% of female victims reported experiencing harassment at least once when they first started their careers. Sexual harassment at work has a number of negative effects; among the victims, 50% report feeling uneasy at work, 30% feel vulnerable, and 21% even say they have lost confidence in themselves.
Sexual harassment can have a serious negative impact on scientific careers in addition to its physical and moral repercussions. 65 percent of respondents who reported having encountered one or more instances of sexual harassment expressed regret over at least one detrimental effect on their career, sometimes an irreparable one.
One in two victims of sexual harassment adopted avoidance tactics towards specific employees (52%), one in four no longer felt safe at work (25%), 20% lost faith in their institution, 15% lost interest in their careers despite themselves, and 12% missed professional opportunities as a result of the harassment they experienced.
According to the High Council for Equality between Women and Men’s 2023 Report on the State of Sexism in France, published in January, sexism is not declining.
The Ipsos survey conducted for the L’Oréal Foundation in the scientific community revealed a similar finding. More than eight out of ten (81%) women scientists have personally experienced at least one instance of sexism during their scientific careers, despite the fact that one in two of them have experienced sexual harassment.
The dominance of an omerta in this setting can be used to explain the persistence of everyday sexism, which is concerning because it can result in the most violent manifestations. Only 19% of those who experienced sexual harassment reported it to their employer.
Despite the fact that almost nine out of ten researchers (86%) report having seen at least one instance of sexism in their careers, only slightly more than half of them (56%) have condemned the behaviour they observed.
Of those who remained silent, half (49%) claimed to have heard accounts of people suffering consequences for speaking up, and 39% expressed fear of reprisals. Beyond the above-mentioned reasons for their reluctance to speak out, more than two thirds of those surveyed (64%) think that the institutions’ own actions are still insufficient or ineffective.
The L’Oréal Foundation’s Executive Director, Alexandra Palt, stated: “We have advocated for the need for women in science ever since the Foundation was founded in 1998. But if we don’t make sure that young women can thrive in a secure workplace, we can’t encourage them to pursue careers in science. Our main goal is to support, value, and promote female researchers. In order to eliminate these intolerable behaviours and ensure that every woman can realise her full potential, this also entails prevention, awareness-raising, and, most importantly, mobilisation.”