Sexual Harassment: Women's Advisory Council Survey Results

The GAO Women's Advisory Council (WAC) presented the results of its survey regarding employees' views and experiences related to sexual harassment and to determine what actions should be taken to prevent any such harassment. WAC noted that: (1) empolyees frequently disagree on the definition of sexual harassment; (2) despite GAO efforts, sexual harassment is a problem in the agency, particularly for women, but also for men; (3) although the majority of employees are aware of formal actions one can take in response to harassment, junior employees are less informed that senior employees and have less confidence in the effectiveness of the actions; (4) victims of sexual harassment rarely took formal actions to stop the harassment and frequently disagreed on the effectiveness of various actions; (5) many employees are unaware of the actions GAO has taken to reduce sexual harassment that may have occured in the workplace.