The Role Of Race On The Prevalence Of And Perceived Response To Workplace Sexual Harassment

Research has shown that minority women experience compounding forms of discrimination as identities intersect, namely sex and race. Though sexual harassment (SH) has been examined, notably in the workplace, the literature routinely fails to capture the full experience of minority women. Further, the intersection between race of the victim and race of the perpetrator appears understudied despite the function of SH being to maintain systems of power and reinforce patterns of discrimination. It was hypothesized that minority women will experience greater rates of SH, specifically perpetrated by White men. Additionally, it was hypothesized that minority women will be less likely to report SH, and if they report, they will be more likely to perceive that their complaint(s) is (are) not taken seriously compared to White female counterparts. The Sexual Experiences Questionnaire (SEQ) was administered to respondents along with a measure of reporting and of perceived seriousness of complaint handling. There was no support that for any of the hypotheses. The direction of the relationship between victim race and perpetrator race in relation to workplace SH reveals that intraracial workplace SH may occur more frequently than interracial workplace SH. Future research should explore the incidence of intraracial workplace SH.