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Sexual Harassment and Gender Inequality in the Labor Market

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  • Rickne, Johanna
  • Folke, Olle

Abstract

This paper offers a comprehensive empirical analysis of sexual harassment in the Swedish labor market. First, we use nationally representative survey data linked with employer-employee data to describe rates of self-reported sexual harassment across occupations and workplaces. The risk of sexual harassment is clearly imbalanced across the sex segregated labor market. In gender-mixed and male-dominated occupations and workplaces, women have a higher risk than men, and men have a higher risk than women in female-dominated contexts. We use a hypothetical job-choice experiment with vignettes for sexual harassment to measure the disutility of sexual harassment risks. Both men and women have an equally high willingness to pay for avoiding workplaces where sexual harassment has occurred. But the willingness to pay is conditional on the sex of the fictional harassment victim. People reject workplaces where the victim is the same sex as themselves, but not where the victim is of the opposite sex. We return to the administrative data to study employer compensation for the disutility of sexual harassment risks. Within workplaces, a high risk is associated with lower, not higher wages. People who self-report sexual harassment also have higher job dissatisfaction, more quit intentions, and more actual quits. Both these patterns indicate a lack of full compensation. We conclude that sexual harassment should be conceptualized as gender discrimination in workplace amenities, and that this discrimination reinforces sex segregation and pay-inequalities in the labor market.

Suggested Citation

  • Rickne, Johanna & Folke, Olle, 2020. "Sexual Harassment and Gender Inequality in the Labor Market," CEPR Discussion Papers 14737, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14737
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    Cited by:

    1. Mehmet Baç, 2023. "Quid pro quo harassment, contracts and liability," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(1), pages 24-45, February.
    2. Bhalotra, Sonia & Fernandez, Manuel & Wang, Fan, 2022. "The Distribution of the Gender Wage Gap: An Equilibrium Model," CEPR Discussion Papers 17253, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Gordon B. Dahl & Matthew M. Knepper, 2021. "Why is Workplace Sexual Harassment Underreported? The Value of Outside Options Amid the Threat of Retaliation," NBER Working Papers 29248, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Delfino, Alexia, 2021. "Breaking Gender Barriers: Experimental Evidence on Men in Pink-Collar Jobs," IZA Discussion Papers 14083, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Azmat, Ghazala & Boring, Anne, 2020. "Gender Diversity in Firms," IZA Policy Papers 168, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Bhalotra, Sonia & Clarke, Damian & Walther, Selma, 2022. "Women's Careers and Family Formation," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1120, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    7. Bhalotra, Sonia R & Fernández, Manuel & Wang, Fan, 2022. "The distribution of the gender wage gap : An equilibrium model," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 614, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    8. Morchio, Iacopo & Moser, Christian, 2018. "The Gender Pay Gap: Micro Sources and Macro Consequences," MPRA Paper 99276, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 24 Mar 2020.
    9. Karpowitz, Christopher F. & O'Connell, Stephen D. & Preece, Jessica & Stoddard, Olga B., 2023. "Strength in Numbers? Gender Composition, Leadership, and Women's Influence in Teams," IZA Discussion Papers 16625, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Cyprien Batut & Caroline Coly & Sarah Schneider-Strawczynski, 2021. "It's a man's world: culture of abuse, #MeToo and worker flows," Working Papers halshs-03403513, HAL.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sexual harassment; Workplace amenities; Gender inequality; Occupational gender segregation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J81 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Working Conditions

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