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Nearly 1 In 4 Men Worldwide Think It's Fine For Bosses To Expect Sex From An Employee: Poll

Nearly 1 In 4 Men Worldwide Think It's Fine For Bosses To Expect Sex From An Employee: Poll
Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji

The #MeToo movement still has a million miles to go, especially in the workplace.

A new Harris Poll found that nearly one out of four (23 percent) men in countries across the world thought it was sometimes or always acceptable for an employer to expect sex from an employee.

The poll, commissioned by the nonprofit humanitarian organization CARE and conducted by Harris Poll, was released Thursday for International Women’s Day. It surveyed 9,400 adults in Australia, Ecuador, Egypt, India, South Africa, the U.S., the U.K. and Vietnam.

“Being expected to have sex with your employer — that’s not a job description, it’s sexual abuse,” CARE CEO Michelle Nunn said in a statement. “It speaks to the global epidemic of harassment and abuse in our workplaces.”

Sexual harassment at work isn’t even illegal in nearly one-third of the world.

“If we now know how difficult it is on the producers’ chair in Los Angeles, imagine how difficult it is someplace like Bangladesh on the factory floor,” Nunn told Fortune magazine.

According to the poll, 32 percent of women and 21 percent of men said they had suffered sexual harassment or assault related to work. In India, one-third (33 percent) of respondents felt it was sometimes or always acceptable to cat-call or whistle at a colleague. And in the U.K., 35 percent of people aged 25 to 35 years old believed it was sometimes or always acceptable to pinch a co-worker’s rear as a joke.

Close to 65 percent of women surveyed believed the #MeToo movement will have a positive impact in their countries.

In response to the poll, CARE launched a petition drive calling on the International Labor Organization to create new global regulations concerning “freedom from violence in the workplace.” CARE also debuted a new hashtag for discussions about sexual harassment: #ThisIsNotWorking.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.