Recent research into the experience of women attendees at scientific conferences revealed all-too-common encounters with sexual harassers. Such unwelcome conduct prevents women from participating fully in events. Associations need policies and staff in place to discourage and respond to this behavior.
"Why do they have dances and serve alcohol at these meetings? They are just giving the creeps a place to be creepy."
"He had been following me around all day. When I felt someone grab my a--, I spun around and saw him walking away."
"There are some meetings where hitting on the younger women is just part of the culture. I don't attend those meetings anymore."
These are comments from women who participated in the Survey of Meeting Experiences (SOME), an internet-based survey of the types and impact of harassment experienced by participants in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) meetings. The full findings are reported in "Open Secrets and Missing Stairs: Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment at Scientific Meetings" [PDF].
Harassment is unwanted or unwelcome attention that is invasive, frightening, insulting, or disrespectful. Harassment creates a hostile, intimidating, or offensive environment. It often takes the form of comments or actions whose hostile intent is clear to the target and may be evident to others, despite the harasser's claim they he was "just joking" and "didn't mean anything by it." (Although men are occasionally the targets of harassment, in most situations of sexual or gender-based harassment, the harasser is a man who targets women.)
Many harassers are "open secrets" to others in their profession—well known for their predatory or hostile behavior. They are the "missing stair" at meetings: the structural flaw that newcomers have to be warned to avoid and that never gets fixed.
By forcing women to consider their safety and appearance in ways that men do not, harassers effectively reduce women's participation at meetings.
Harassment is one way that women and other underrepresented groups encounter bias at meetings. Meeting attendees are harassed on many bases, including gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. SOME focused on sexual and gender-based harassment, but the recommendations that emerged apply to harassment for any reason.
Sixty percent of respondents reported being harassed at a meeting. This is not at all surprising—most randomly conducted surveys from around the world find that up to 80 percent of women report occasionally experiencing harassment in a public place.
Also unsurprising: The vast majority of the respondents who had experienced harassment were women. Three were men, and excluding their responses did not change the results.
When asked about the type of harassment they had experienced, more than 80 percent of those who had been targeted reported having someone comment on their appearance, being called an endearment, being leered or stared at, or having a harasser make a bigoted comment. More than 70 percent said that a harasser had asked personal questions or had volunteered personal information. Women described having harassers question them about their living situation, marital status, and the quality of their "love life." One said her harasser claimed he could tell her wedding band was fake. Harassers also volunteer information about their own marital status, their unhappiness at home, and the strength and intensity of their sex drive.
More than half of respondents said harassers asked for their phone number or hotel room number or simply asked them for sex. More than 30 percent of respondents reported being touched, groped, or grabbed and being followed or stalked.
Women who have experienced harassment at meetings change their behavior as a result. The most common reactions were worrying about their personal safety, feeling concerned about how to dress to avoid harassment, and trying to avoid the harasser.
By forcing women to consider their safety and appearance in ways that men do not, harassers effectively reduce women's participation at meetings. A high percentage of respondents indicated that they avoid social events, crowded areas, and events where alcohol is served. Women clearly get the message that they are unwelcome and that they are responsible for ensuring their own safety at meetings.
Most associations are unaware of harassment at their meetings. More than 80 percent of those who experienced harassment said they had not reported the incidents out of fear that they would be labeled a complainer or troublemaker, that they would be subjected to further harassment or retaliation, or that they would be ignored or blamed for encouraging the harassment.
The burden is on associations to:
Participation in association meetings is a privilege, and those who harass and bully fellow attendees abuse that privilege. Associations have the right to decide who is, and is not, welcome at their events. Failing to take action against harassers is, in fact, a decision about who is welcome. It is time to decide in favor of those who treat all of their colleagues with respect.
