Perception and Tolerance of Sexual Harassment: An Examination of Feminist Identity, Sexism, and Gender Roles in a Sample of Chinese Working Women

Abstract

In East Asian culture, where sex is a sensitive subject, many women still have a high recognition threshold when it comes to sexual harassment, as well as a high tolerance for it. Previous research has shown that feminist identity is effective in promoting women’s physical and mental health and buffering against the negative effects of sexual harassment, thus, it is important to clarify the role that feminist identity plays in the perception of sexual harassment. In this study, we examined whether feminist identity is related to the perception and tolerance of sexual harassment and whether feminist identity mediates the relations between sexism, gender roles, and sexual harassment perception and tolerance among Chinese working women. In a survey of 507 participants, we found that active commitment to feminism was positively correlated with women’s perception of sexual harassment, while passive acceptance of traditional gender roles was positively correlated with tolerance of sexual harassment. Mediation analysis showed that active commitment to feminism mediated the relations between sexism, gender roles, and sexual harassment perception, while passive acceptance of traditional gender roles mediated the relations between sexism and femininity with sexual harassment tolerance. We assert that feminist identity has the potential to enable women to be more perceptive and less tolerant of sexual harassment behaviors, and as such, feminist ideology should be incorporated into education for Chinese women.

Psychological Applications and Trends 2022

“…This could be explained by the fact that women may feel more personally involved in this type of abuse, whatever the act (touching or rape); statistics show that more women than men experience sexual abuse: 14% of women report having been sexually abused, compared to 4% of men (Hamel et al, 2016). Likewise, a recent Asian study (Shi & Zheng, 2020) revealed that women are less tolerant of sexual harassment than men, and several meta-analyses found that more women than men report that they have been sexually assaulted (Pereda et al, 2009;Stoltenborgh et al, 2011).…”

Is Support for Feminism Enough for Change? How Sexism and Gender Stereotypes Might Hinder Gender Justice

“…Identity and motivational aspects are also affected by experienced sexism, as sexist teasing negatively affects gender self-esteem in women ( Hack et al, 2019 ) and the perception of sexist barriers predicts the disparity between women’s precollege ambitions and their current attempts to continue studying after graduation ( Li et al, 2021 ). Sexism also predicts individuals’ tolerance for sexual harassment (e.g., Hill and Marshall, 2018 ; Shi and Zheng, 2020 ), men’s victim blaming and approval of the aggressor’s behavior ( Koepke et al, 2014 ), and how women who confront discrimination are perceived ( Jiménez-Moya et al, 2022 ). In public domains, sexism hinders women’s goals and achievements when approaching leadership positions ( Rudman et al, 2012 ), predicts negative attitudes toward female leaders (e.g., Good and Rudman, 2010 ) and discriminatory preferences for political candidates ( Gervais and Hillard, 2011 ; Ratliff et al, 2017 ).…”

Legislative and judicial responses to workplace sexual harassment in mainland China: Progress and drawbacks

“…Therefore, the experience of being sexually harassed could be considered shameful and negatively affect a female victim's subsequent relationships and marriages. Third, in a gender-unequal society, many Chinese women still lack awareness of their rights, leading to their higher tolerance of sexual harassment ( 61 ). In addition, according to the 2018 China Workplace Sexual Harassment Survey Report , the fear of ruining work relationships and the fear of retaliation are two of the main reasons why victims choose not to report workplace sexual harassment, accounting for 46 and 30% of the respondents, respectively ( 51 ).…”