The vast majority of restaurant workers in Iceland have been sexually harassed at work. In most cases the perpetrators were customers, although co-workers or superiors were to blame in many cases.
According to a study commissioned by the Federation of General and Special Workers (Starfsgreinasambandið) and the Union of the Union of Employees in the Food and Restaurant Industries, MATVÍS, 40.9% of those who have worked in the service industries in the past ten years have been subject to unwanted sexual attention or harassment. The proportion is highest among waiters and baristas. A full 60% of workers at restaurants and 56.8% of people who have worked at cafés report having been subjected to some sort of sexual harassment.
Young women most likely to be harassed
The harassment varies greatly in nature, ranging from staring or various bodily gestures, to inappropriate comments and questions or groping. Over half, 55.8%, report they were between the ages of 18 and 24 when the harassment took place, but 11.6% of respondents say they were younger than 18.
Although most of those who report having been harassed are women, men are also subject to unwanted sexual advances. The majority of women in the service industry, 50.4% report sexual harassment, as do 26.4% of men in the sector. Women were also more likely than men to feel unsafe and insecure at work, as a result of sexual harassment.
The employees are not on the menu
Steinunn Rögnvaldsdóttir, the author of the report, tells Iceland Insider it is an important contribution to the ongoing discussion about sexual violence in Iceland:
I think the correct context for of the conclusions of the report is the current discussion about sexual violence in Iceland. Recently we have seen waves of revolutionary actions by women who refuse to keep silent about the violence they have suffered, or bow to hypocracy and double standards of gender roles and norms. The waves are crushing in: Beuty Tips [An Icelandic Facebook lifestyle forum for young women], Free the nipple, #6dagsleikinn, [a hashtag used by Icelandic women discussing experiences of everyday sexism], Kynlegar athugasemdir [a facebook-page which collected anonymous stories of sexual harassment and gender inequality] and the slut-walk. These are very promising developments for a more gender-equal and just society and I hope that the results og the report will raise awareness about the problem of sexual harassment. Because to deal with the problem, we first must identify it and talk about it.
A twitter campaign, using the hashtags #AldreiOK and #notonthemenu, launched by the unions who commissioned the study reminds customers that it is never ok to sexually harass other people and that the employees are not on the menu.
The vast majority of restaurant workers in Iceland have been sexually harassed at work. In most cases the perpetrators were customers, although co-workers or superiors were to blame in many cases.
According to a study commissioned by the Federation of General and Special Workers (Starfsgreinasambandið) and the Union of the Union of Employees in the Food and Restaurant Industries, MATVÍS, 40.9% of those who have worked in the service industries in the past ten years have been subject to unwanted sexual attention or harassment. The proportion is highest among waiters and baristas. A full 60% of workers at restaurants and 56.8% of people who have worked at cafés report having been subjected to some sort of sexual harassment.
Young women most likely to be harassed
The harassment varies greatly in nature, ranging from staring or various bodily gestures, to inappropriate comments and questions or groping. Over half, 55.8%, report they were between the ages of 18 and 24 when the harassment took place, but 11.6% of respondents say they were younger than 18.
Although most of those who report having been harassed are women, men are also subject to unwanted sexual advances. The majority of women in the service industry, 50.4% report sexual harassment, as do 26.4% of men in the sector. Women were also more likely than men to feel unsafe and insecure at work, as a result of sexual harassment.
The employees are not on the menu
Steinunn Rögnvaldsdóttir, the author of the report, tells Iceland Insider it is an important contribution to the ongoing discussion about sexual violence in Iceland:
I think the correct context for of the conclusions of the report is the current discussion about sexual violence in Iceland. Recently we have seen waves of revolutionary actions by women who refuse to keep silent about the violence they have suffered, or bow to hypocracy and double standards of gender roles and norms. The waves are crushing in: Beuty Tips [An Icelandic Facebook lifestyle forum for young women], Free the nipple, #6dagsleikinn, [a hashtag used by Icelandic women discussing experiences of everyday sexism], Kynlegar athugasemdir [a facebook-page which collected anonymous stories of sexual harassment and gender inequality] and the slut-walk. These are very promising developments for a more gender-equal and just society and I hope that the results og the report will raise awareness about the problem of sexual harassment. Because to deal with the problem, we first must identify it and talk about it.
A twitter campaign, using the hashtags #AldreiOK and #notonthemenu, launched by the unions who commissioned the study reminds customers that it is never ok to sexually harass other people and that the employees are not on the menu.
