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Seven in 10 workers believe that reporting workplace sexual offenses or raising issues about them carries a high likelihood of secondary victimization. More than half of female employees surveyed were found not to trust that their company would protect them from harm caused by workplace sex crimes.

On the 6th, Gabjil 119, a civic advocacy group against workplace harassment, released results from a survey on "Experiences of Workplace Sexual Offenses and Perception of Secondary Victimization" conducted among 1,000 workers aged 19 and older nationwide from the 1st to the 7th of last month by pollster Global Research. According to the findings, 72.3% of respondents answered that reporting or raising issues about workplace sex crimes—such as sexual harassment, sexual molestation, sexual assault, or stalking—carries a high likelihood of causing secondary victimization. Concerns were particularly pronounced among women at 77%, compared to men.

Distrust in company protection measures was the most common reason for fearing secondary harm. The response "concern that separation from the perpetrator or protective measures for the victim would not be properly carried out" accounted for the largest share at 37.2%. This was followed by "a prevailing atmosphere that views the victim as sharing responsibility" at 36.2%, and "concern that disciplinary action or measures against the perpetrator would not be properly enforced" at 30.2%.

In many cases, victims could not take active countermeasures even after experiencing harm. Respondents who reported experiencing sexual harassment while employed accounted for 20.3% of the total. Among them, 40.9% answered that they "endured it or pretended not to notice" even after suffering harm.

Respondents who believed their company would protect them from sex crime harms stood at 59.2%. Broken down by gender, the divide was substantial: among women, the figure fell short of half at 49.4%, whereas among men it stood at 67%, reflecting a 17.6 percentage-point gap between the sexes.

Workers also viewed companies as bearing responsibility for preventing secondary harm. When asked who bears the greatest responsibility for maintaining a safe workplace, management—including employers, CEOs, and executives—was cited most frequently at 39.8%. Immediate managers followed at 28.6%, and grievance handling departments at 14%.

Regarding necessary countermeasures, "establishing strict disciplinary standards for perpetrators and secondary offenders" was cited most often at 48.6%. "Swift and decisive separation measures from the perpetrator" also reached 46.5%.

Yeo Su-jin, a certified labor attorney at Gabjil 119, pointed out, "To curb secondary victimization from workplace sexual harassment, we must move away from handling methods focused solely on disciplining perpetrators, and instead adopt a community-wide approach focused on the victimized worker's safe return and recurrence prevention."

                                                                                                            Kim Tae-hoon