Sexual harassment and coercion in German academia: A large-scale survey study

Abstract

We surveyed a large sample (N = 6,217) of students and employees at a German university regarding their experiences as (potential) targets of sexual harassment and/or coercion (SH/C). Participants were asked specific questions depending on whether they had been targets of SH/C themselves, knew someone who had been affected or said they had no such experiences. Pre-registered analyses showed that women were assumed to become targets more often, and actually did become targets much more often (26.7%) than did males (4.7%; odds ratio: 7.45). Men more often had no first- or second-hand knowledge of any SH/C incidents (odds ratio: 1.75). Contrary to what participants assumed they would do if they became targets, only a very small percentage of such experiences were actually reported using the available channels. Most participants who experienced but did not report SH/C said they did not expect that doing so would lead to any consequences. Greater offence severity was associated with a stronger wish to avoid emotional distress by not reporting. Furthermore, reporting often times did not lead to any significant consequences in the majority of cases. Complaint systems against sexual harassment and coercion in academia may be largely dysfunctional. Practical implications are discussed.

An analysis of functional relationships between systemic conditions and unethical behavior in German academia

“…The responsible bodies within academic institutions tend to be understaffed, have little authority and hardly any power to impose sanctions, and are often not even known to potential complainants. Surveys also show that these "internal" complaints channels are not trusted much, and that their use tends to produce results that are rarely experienced as satisfactory by complainants (Elson et al, 2021;Höbel et al, 2022). The vast majority of misconduct thus remains unreported and unsanctioned.…”

“…Most of the responsibility for supervision, controls and possible sanctions lies with the academic institutions themselves. However, recurrent case reports in the media as well as survey studies show that the current complaint systems are not very effective (Elson et al, 2021;Höbel et al, 2022;Scherpenberg et al, Schraudner et al, 2019). Potential complainants do not trust them, do not use them, and unethical conduct hardly ever has severe consequences for perpetrators.…”

“…Given all of these hurdles -entirely to the detriment of potential whistleblowers -it is not surprising that successful complaints seem to be a rare exception rather than the rule in the science system (Elson et al, 2021;Höbel et al, 2022), and that many cases of even severe misconduct only come to light via the press. (12.2.)…”