Shocking: 27 percent of all women in Austria have already been sexually harassed at work. The Labor Chamber (AK) has also noticed an increase in consultations and the crisis is exacerbating the situation.
The numbers are astonishing and they speak a clear language. According to Statistics Austria, 27 percent of women in Austria say they have experienced sexual harassment at work. A frighteningly high number. The results of a current evaluation by the Vienna Workers’ Chamber underline the problem and also show an increase in consultation.
91 percent of the victims are women
A majority of the affected victims who contacted the AK Vienna are women. Namely 91 percent. What is especially shocking is that 13 percent of those affected were 19 or younger! This means that students are already confronted with sexual harassment when they enter the labor market. According to the evaluation, the problem usually exists from the beginning of the employment relationship, often even during the interview. After a few days or weeks, the harassment would follow.
Gasto and tourism as problem areas
As far as working conditions are concerned, gastronomy and tourism again appear to be bottlenecks. Because 21 percent of the analyzed cases concerned the hospitality industry. However, due to economic pressure, many women endure these attacks for a long time, says Bianca Steppwieser, head of employment law advice at the Vienna Workers’ Chamber. For example, a victim from the hospitality industry stated that she endured the attacks because she desperately needed the Christmas bonus and wanted to wait for the payment.
Extremely disturbing:
In half of the reported cases, the employer did not respond to the bully. The AK holds the employers responsible for this. Many would still turn a blind eye and not want to address the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace. The interest group therefore advocates prevention concepts to prevent this. If this is missing and there is abuse, the employer must pay compensation of at least 5000 euros for the victims.
Source: Krone
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