ISTOCK, DEMARFAAs in many other industries, victims of sexual harassment in the sciences are beginning to come forward about their experiences. Recent reports—focusing on researchers working in the field—show that this issue is widespread and suggest that many incidents are never documented.
In 2014, University of Illinois anthropology professor Kathryn Clancy and colleagues undertook a survey in an effort to quantify how widespread sexual harassment is on field sites. Of the 666 female scientists from more than 30 disciplines surveyed, 64 percent reported encountering sexual harassment in the field, and 20 percent said they had been sexually assaulted. The study, published in PLOS ONE, concluded that female field scientists were 3.5 times more likely to experience harassment or abuse than their male counterparts.
The same researchers followed up last month with a study in the American Anthropologist based on 26 of the original survey participants. The team found that female scientists on field sites without clear rules or consequences for wrongdoers—compared to the locations with clear codes ...
