HARASSMENT IN FORESTRY ORGANIZATIONS – GENDERING THE EXPERIENCES OF WOMEN AND MEN

This article explores the nature and practice of harassment in male-dominated organizations based on 645 responses (92.5% response rate) to a survey sent to all workers employed by a company in the Swedish forest sector. The findings show that both women and men report experiences of harassment at work, although in different forms, with different frequencies and with different consequences. A total of 38% of women and 14% of men report experiences of harassment at work. Both women and men most often experience verbal and psychological harassment by workmates during day-to-day activities. However, unlike men, women also experience harassment that takes place on and across a wider range of spatial and temporal relations and perpetrators involved. Also evident was that women respondents had a more negative perception of company culture and gender equality status compared with men, and the most negative perceptions were from women reporting experiences of harassment. This article provides quantitative insights into the harassment experienced by women in the Swedish forestry sector at the organizational level. It adds new insights regarding the existence of harassment in the forest sector that is not of a sexual nature and that not only women but also men report experiencing harassment.