Sexual Harassment in the Creative Industries: Tolerance, Culture and the Need for Change

What is it about?

This study involved 32 in-depth interviews with women working in the Netherlands’ creative industries. We found that sexual harassment was prevalent, and many women considered it to be part of their occupational culture and career advancement. Four factors influenced this phenomenon: competition for work; industry culture; gendered power relations; and the importance of informal networks. Implications include the need for a climate of non-tolerance, sector-specific research and guidelines, sensitivity training and further work with unions and professional associations to provide worker protection strategies traditionally undertaken by organizations. The article concludes that effective sexual harassment prevention requires action at the individual, educational, sectoral and governmental levels, beginning with public conversations to convey the message that sexual harassment is never acceptable.

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Why is it important?

There is growing evidence that precarious work, competition and lack of regulation in the creative industries is exacerbating inequalities. The women in this study attributed the rise to fierce competition for work; industry culture; gendered power relations; and the importance of informal networks.

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