SURVEY SHEDS #METOO LIGHT ON CANADIAN WORKPLACES

TORONTO• In the wake of the# Me Too movement — sparked by sexual misconduct allegations surrounding Hollywood’s Harvey Weinstein and dozens of other prominent men — a spotlight has been placed on workplace behaviour and the equal treatment of women.

Ahead of the one-year anniversary of the movement, talent organization theBoardlist Canada and U.S. research firm Qualtrics surveyed more than 100 Canadian board members, venture capitalists and executives and found women are still reporting mistreatment at the office and that many companies are still not taking action after #MeToo.

The online survey conducted between May and June 2018 found:

41 per cent of respondents said they have experienced sexual harassment, misconduct or assault in their careers;

8 per cent said allegations of sexual harassment or inappropriate behaviour have come to light in their offices;

53 per cent of respondents who sit on boards said the company is re-evaluating its policies in light of #MeToo;

52 per cent said their company has not taken action as a result of #MeToo;

32 per cent of respondents said their board was considering discouraging drinking and partying at company events following #MeToo;

7 per cent said they had noticed backlash at their company as a result of the #MeToo movement;

83 per cent of respondents said their company has discussed #MeToo, allegations of inappropriate behaviour and gender discrimination;

70 per cent of venture capital respondents said they are advising their investment portfolio companies about appropriate behaviour and sexism.

The polling industry’s professional body, the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.