More than one-in-four women have experienced verbal harassment in the province.
Vancouver, BC [March 6, 2020] – A significant number of women in British Columbia have experienced discrimination on account of their gender, and younger residents are more likely to have faced harassment in the province, a new Research Co. poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative provincial sample, one-in-five women (21%) have experienced “a significant amount” or “a moderate amount” of discrimination on account of their gender in British Columbia. More than a third of women in British Columbia have endured “a small amount” of gender discrimination (37%) in the province.
“Half of women in British Columbia aged 55 and over (50%) have not experienced discrimination because of their gender in the province.” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “The numbers are decidedly lower in the other age brackets, with just 34% of women aged 35-to-54 and only 21% of women aged 18-to-34 saying they have not endured gender discrimination in British Columbia.”
More than one-in-four women in British Columbia (28%) have been verbally harassed on account of their gender, while 24% have been sexually harassed.
At least one-in-five women in the province have experienced poor customer service (23%), sexist jokes (20%) and unfair treatment in the workplace (also 20%).
In addition, 17% of women have been mocked or ridiculed and 12% lost a potential employment opportunity because of their gender.
Seven-in-ten women in British Columbia aged 18-to-34 (71%) have experienced at least one of the 12 negative incidents tested in the survey, compared to 66% among women aged 35-to-54 and 44% among women aged 55 and over.
More than a third of women who reside in Metro Vancouver (34%) have experienced verbal harassment, and practically one-in-four (24%) have endured sexual harassment.
Women who reside in Southern BC were more likely to report being mocked or ridiculed because of their gender (26%), while those in Northern BC were more likely to have been treated unfairly in the workplace (27%).
Methodology:
Results are based on online studies conducted from December 12 to December 16, 2019, and from January 21 to January 24, 2020, among 800 adult women in British Columbia. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age and region in British Columbia. The margin of error—which measures sample variability—is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Find our full dataset here and download the press release here.
For more information on this poll, please contact:
Mario Canseco, President, Research Co.
778.929.0490
[e] mario.canseco@researchco.ca