Even though the U.S. federal government creates and enforces laws to combat workplace sexual harassment, their employees are not immune from having to face this kind of abuse. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights issued a report called the Federal #MeToo, and it examined the prevalence of sexual harassment in federal workplaces. Just as importantly, it investigated how well the federal government is addressing the problem. According to the report, sexual harassment exists in all levels of every federal agency. From 2015 to 2018, federal employees had filed more than 2,200 sexual harassment claims, with more than 80 percent of these being filed by women.
There were approximately 2.1 million civilian workers employed by the federal government in 2020, and federal workplace sexual harassment continues to be a significant problem. The number of employee claims has been increasing steadily over the past few years, but researchers agree that many employees do not complain about the abuse. From all indications, this problem will not be disappearing anytime soon.
What Did the Federal #MeToo Report Find?
Although it is estimated that one out of every seven federal employees experiences sexually harassing behaviors, it often goes unreported in federal workplaces. The harassment can be based on an unwelcome sexual attraction, but is more about power, dominance, and control. It appears abused employees may not know who to turn to for help, and a lack of standard policies procedures for...
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