Statistics Canada's Centre for Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics, in collaboration with the Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, has released a new data table on experiences of harassment and sexual assault in the workplace. This data table reports on the Gender Results Framework (GRF), introduced by the Government of Canada in 2018 to track the progress of gender equality in Canada. The new data table also includes data collected through the 2020 Survey on Sexual Misconduct at Work (SSMW).
The first release of the 2020 SSMW was an infographic (Sexual misconduct and gender-based discrimination at work, 2020) and a Juristat article (Workers' experiences of inappropriate sexualized behaviours, sexual assault and gender-based discrimination in the Canadian provinces, 2020) published in August 2021.
Workplace harassment refers to objectionable or unwelcome conduct, comments or actions by an individual at any event or location related to work, which can reasonably be expected to offend, intimidate, humiliate or degrade the person experiencing them. It also includes inappropriate sexualized behaviour, discriminatory behaviour and sexual assault.
Inappropriate sexualized behaviour includes inappropriate verbal and non-verbal communication, behaviour related to sexually explicit materials, and unwanted physical contact or suggested sexual relations. Discriminatory behaviour includes discrimination based on a person's gender identity or gender expression and actual or perceived sexual orientation, or because a person is, or is believed to be, transgender.
Sexual assault includes sexual attacks; unwanted sexual touching; and sexual activity to which the victim was unable to consent because they were manipulated, coerced, intoxicated or forced in another non-physical way.
All results referring to experiences of harassment or sexual assault in the workplace or in a work-related setting occurred while the respondent was employed.
