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Seven participants hav a conversation about the report
Representatives for research, for the labour market and for the Minister for Employment and Gender Equality in conversations about Trakasseribarometern 2022.
Photo: Karin Boo
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No change in silence culture shows the Harassment Barometer

If you want to get an idea of the situation in your workplace, it is not enough to just ask the question "Have you been subjected to sexual harassment explicitly in the last 12 months?". In The Harassment Barometer 2.2% answer yes to this question. If the question is instead expanded with examples of concrete behaviors, 10% answer that they have been exposed.

At the same time, there has been no change in the degree of culture of silence. More than 50% still state that they did not inform anyone that they had been exposed. One reason is that victims do not trust the person they report to. 

The Harassment Barometer 2022 has been developed by Kantar Public in collaboration with Industriarbetsgivarna, Unionen, LO, Byggnads, Handels, and Kommunal. Parts of the report were discussed at a seminar on 1 June, in which Rasmus Cruce Neayé, State Secretary to the Minister for Employment and Gender Equality, Eva Nordmark, also took part.

Fredrik Bondestam, associate professor in Sociology at Uppsala University and director of the Swedish Secretariat for Gender Research at the University of Gothenburg, has contributed to the work on the report:

”The culture of silence is important to address. At the same time, there are conversations about concrete strategies in everyday life, for example to avoid certain colleagues, places or situations. These conversations, with experiences from people who have been exposed, should be picked up and taken care of.”

Research shows that experience of different types of vulnerability in different environments, affects the private life and working life: Stress, various forms of ill health, dropouts from work and education, there are also risks of suicide.

“In the preventive work, dialogue is the key, to discuss different behaviors. It is in the workplaces that the change must take place” commented Linn Svansbo from Byggnads.

The Sifo survey has been conducted three times; the first time shortly after the #metoo call 2018, the second time in 2020 and the third in 2022. The survey is based on responses from a representative sample of the working public, in the “Sifopanelen”.

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