Sexual harassment is a persistent problem in the workplace that warrants further attention in public administration research. Despite the fact that black women are one of the largest subpopulations in the military, most studies of sexual harassment treat women as a homogenous group, and results generally reflect the experiences of white women, given their overrepresentation in samples. Using data from a large-scale and representative survey of military members, we find that nearly one in five black women in the military (17.9%) experienced sexual harassment in 2018. Our findings further detail black women's sexual harassment experiences and advance the discourse on the need to address sexual harassment in the workplace through an intersectional lens in order to design more inclusive prevention and response programs and policies. For example, inclusive programs should proactively account for the experiences of black women in the design and evaluation of prevention and response efforts.
Black Women in the Military: Prevalence, Characteristics, and Correlates of Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment is a persistent problem in the workplace that warrants further attention in public administration research. Despite the fact that black women are one of the largest subpopulations in the military, most studies of sexual harassment treat women as a homogenous group, and results generally reflect the experiences of white women, given their overrepresentation in samples. Using data from a large-scale and representative survey of military members, we find that nearly one in five black women in the military (17.9%) experienced sexual harassment in 2018. Our findings further detail black women’s sexual harassment experiences and advance the discourse on the need to address sexual harassment in the workplace through an intersectional lens in order to design more inclusive prevention and response programs and policies. For example, inclusive programs should proactively account for the experiences of black women in the design and evaluation of prevention and response efforts.
