1.6 million women in the UK have experienced sexual harassment in a public service setting. The range of public services include hostels, mental health hospitals, job centres, GP’s and other public service settings (such as schools, police station and social services.)
Findings:
- Over half of women have been sexually harassed in their lifetime
- 72% of young women (compared to 41% of young men) reported that they had experienced sexual harassment at some time in their lives.
- 50% of women experienced sexual harassment in a public space
- 31% of women experienced sexual harassment in their workplace
- Over 1 in 10 women who have experienced sexual harassment said it happened whilst accessing a public service such as the job centre, a hostel or a mental health hospital. This rises to 17% amongst women aged 25-34 who have been sexually harassed.
- 13% of women experience sexual harassment from someone coming into their home who they do not live with.
- 92% of people surveyed agree that women should be able to access public services without being sexually harassed.
- 82% of people surveyed think that staff in public services should be trained to identify and prevent sexual harassment.
- 75% agree that there should be more funding for specialist services to support the most disadvantaged women and girls who experience sexual harassment.
- 87% of people agree that the government should work with specialist women and girl’s organisations to develop effective solutions to prevent the most disadvantaged women and girls from experiencing sexual harassment.
Overall, 14.8 million women in the UK have experienced sexual harassment in their lifetime. In a nationally representative survey of 2000 UK adults, 561 women said they have experienced sexual harassment. 561 / 2000 * 52,673,000 (UK adult population) = 14,774,777 or 14.8 million.