Ask yourself: have you ever groped your server, or made inappropriate comments to a bartender when you were drunk? Just think for a second. Maybe you were that server or bartender.
Nine in ten women say they’ve experienced some form of “unwanted, scary sexual behavior in the workplace,” according to a new report published today by the Restaurant Opportunities Center United. Do you find this shocking, or think that it’s a depressingly unsurprising stat?
Saru Jayaraman, co-founder of the non-profit restaurant worker’s group, told USA Today,
The study calls sexual harassment “endemic to the restaurant industry,” and Jayaraman suggests that an increase in paid hourly rate and a phase-out of the tipped minimum wage ($2.13 at federal level) will help reduce harassment.
Here are more industrywide stats from the report:
- One third of female restaurant workers experienced sexual harassment from customers on at least a weekly basis.
- Three-quarters of women experienced sexual harassment from co-workers on at least a monthly basis.
- Two-thirds of women experienced sexual harassment from management on at least a monthly basis.
For the record, half of men in the restaurant industry say they’ve been sexually harassed by a supervisor, manager, or restaurant owner.
The report included in-person and online interviews with 688 restaurant workers in 39 states. It was conducted May through August, 2014.
[via USA Today, Grub Street]
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