Everyone has a right to a world of work free from violence and harassment, including gender-based violence and harassment. To raise awareness and spark advocacy for change, the annual 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign begins on 25 November, marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and culminates on 10 December with International Human Rights Day.
In June 2019, the International Labour Organization (ILO) made history by adopting the Violence and Harassment Convention (No. 190) and its accompanying Recommendation (No. 206). These are the first international labour standards on violence and harassment in the world of work and provide a common framework to prevent, remedy and eliminate violence and harassment in the world of work, including gender-based violence and harassment. Convention 190 has put a spotlight on the world of work and has spurred action to end this scourge, with 45 ratifications so far, it has become one of the fastest-ratified ILO Conventions.
Research and statistics on violence and harassment are an important part of understanding and addressing the phenomenon in all its complexities. However, they remain scarce and sporadic. Existing data lack comparability, as they rely on differing terminologies, concepts, definitions and methods. Under-reporting is also an important issue for measurement, driven by fear of victimization, lack of accessible reporting mechanisms, and weak enforcement in many countries. To address these data gaps, the ILO is developing the first international statistical standards on this critical topic.
Work-related violence and harassment is widespread and persistent
A global first survey on experiences of violence and harassment at work showed that in 2021, more than one in five (22.8 per cent) employed persons have experienced at least one form of violence and harassment at work during their working life. The survey also revealed considerable regional differences in the prevalence of violence and harassment at work.
Reliable and comprehensive country-level data are crucial to capture the extent and the depth of the issue. To better enable this, the ILO developed a questionnaire and survey protocol designed to measure work-related violence and harassment at country level and piloted them in three countries in West Africa in 2024: Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal. These are countries in which the ILO has been working to address violence and harassment under the France-ILO partnership. The pilot surveys, based on the ILO questionnaire, provide further significant insights.
Two-thirds of workers in Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal report experiencing work-related violence and harassment
They show that around two-thirds of persons with employment experience have been subjected to work-related violence and harassment in Senegal (65 per cent) and Côte d’Ivoire (58 per cent) at some point in their lives. In Burkina Faso, this proportion is slightly lower but remains significant at 43 per cent. Notably, many victims reported experiencing violence and harassment within the 12 months preceding the survey. This is the case for 37 per cent of Senegalese survey respondents, 38 per cent of respondents in Côte d’Ivoire and 35 per cent in Burkina Faso. Patterns are similar for men and women.
Psychological violence and harassment is the most common form of work-related violence and harassment
Verbal abuse, insults, threats of dismissal and other humiliating behaviours, which constitute psychological violence and harassment, were experienced by the majority of workers in Senegal (66 per cent of men and 54 per cent of women), and by 60 per cent of men and 49 per cent of women in Côte d’Ivoire. In Burkina Faso, where prevalence is lower overall, 43 per cent of men and 37 per cent of women experienced this type of violence and harassment.
Physical violence, while less prevalent than other forms of violence in all three countries, remains significant. In Senegal, one in three male workers reported being slapped, kicked, beaten up, or subjected to other forms of physical violence involving a weapon at work. In Côte d’Ivoire, one in five male workers reported similar experiences.
More women are subjected to work-related sexual violence and harassment
While women are less likely than men to be subjected to work-related psychological and physical violence in all three countries, they are more likely to experience sexual violence and harassment. In Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal, 23 per cent and 22 per cent of women, respectively, reported experiencing unwanted sexual behaviours in the workplace, compared to 15 per cent and 16 per cent of men. In Burkina Faso, 15 per cent of women reported such experiences, compared to 9 per cent of men.
Persons employed in market services are more likely to experience work-related violence and harassment
The vast majority of people who experienced recent work-related violence and harassment (i.e., occurring during the 12 months preceding the survey) were still employed at the time of the survey. Among these victims, around four out of five experienced such incidents in their current job. Persons employed in market services (including trade, transportation, accommodation and food, and business and administrative services) reported significantly higher rates of violence and harassment at work compared to those in other sectors. In Côte d’Ivoire, 45 per cent of workers in this sector experienced violence and harassment within the past 12 months compared to 23 per cent of persons employed in agriculture. The same pattern is observed in Burkina Faso and Senegal.
Clients are the main perpetrators of work-related violence and harassment
In all three countries, over 40 per cent of women and 30 per cent of men who experienced work-related psychological violence and harassment reported that these behaviours were perpetrated by clients, patients, pupils (in other words, by people purchasing products or receiving services from the workers), or their relatives. For women, supervisors are also significant perpetrators of psychological violence and harassment at work, with 18 per cent of women in Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal and 16 per cent in Burkina Faso reporting victimization by their supervisors. Psychological violence and harassment by strangers in work settings are also common, with one in five women in all three countries reporting such incidents.
Clients are also among the main perpetrators of work-related physical violence, responsible for over one-fourth of male and female victims in Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal. In Burkina Faso, 33 per cent of female victims reported having experienced physical aggression from a client, a patient or their relatives. For men, colleagues and supervisors are significant perpetrators, with 53 per cent and 29 per cent of male victims respectively reporting physical aggression by these types of perpetrators. Physical violence by strangers in work settings is also important in all three countries, especially for women.
When it comes to sexual violence and harassment, clients remain the main perpetrators for men and women in Côte d’Ivoire, responsible for around 40 per cent of victims. In Senegal, clients are also the main perpetrators for men, whereas most women report victimization from strangers in work settings. In Burkina Faso, colleagues are the most significant perpetrators of sexual violence and harassment for men, and clients for women.
Work-related psychological violence and harassment against women is mostly perpetrated by women in Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal, but men are the main perpetrators of sexual and physical violence
Capturing information on the sex of perpetrators reveals specific patterns of gender-based violence and harassment. In all three countries, the majority of men experienced work-related psychological violence and harassment inflicted mainly by other men (over 60 per cent of male victims in all three countries). In Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal, 45 per cent of female victims reported experiencing work-related psychological violence mainly from other women, whereas 23 per cent and 30 per cent of them respectively experienced this type of violence and harassment mainly from male perpetrators. The remaining proportion of the victims endured this type of violence and harassment by male and female perpetrators to the same extent.
When it comes to physical violence, men are the main perpetrators, accounting for more than 80 per cent of male victims across all three countries, and over 50 per cent of female victims in Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire.
For sexual violence and harassment, men are also the main perpetrators against women, with male perpetrators responsible for 70 per cent of female victims in Burkina Faso and up to 90 per cent in Côte d’Ivoire. In Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal, women are the main perpetrators of sexual violence and harassment against men, responsible for more than two thirds of male victims.
Work-related violence and harassment affect workers’ mental and physical health
Violence and harassment at work have far-reaching effects on workers’ well-being. Mental health is notably impacted, with the majority of victims reporting these consequences. In Burkina Faso, 54 per cent of male victims and 47 per cent of female victims reported mental health effects. Similarly, physical health is often affected, with 26 per cent of male victims and 23 per cent of female victims in Senegal reporting physical harm due to work-related violence. Loss of motivation and loss of productivity at work are also important consequences of work-related violence and harassment, affecting 14 per cent of men in Burkina Faso and 10 per cent of men in Côte d’Ivoire. Absenteeism caused by the violent behaviours experienced is reported by around 8 per cent of workers of both sexes across all three countries. Between one to five per cent of victims reported that they stopped working altogether as a consequence of the violence and harassment they endured.
Conclusion
The emerging evidence offers first insights into the nature, extent and impact of work-related violence and harassment. They highlight the urgent need for action to eliminate violence and harassment from the world of work. Comprehensive and reliable data at country level is crucial to inform policymaking, develop prevention and remediation programmes, and support the ratification and effective implementation of Convention No. 190. These 16 days of Activism Gender-Based Violence are a time for collective awareness, advocacy, and action towards creating a better, safer and more inclusive world of work and ensuring social justice for all.
Towards international statistical standards of work-related violence and harassment
As international statistical standards do not exist yet on work-related violence and harassment, the ILO is developing a conceptual framework and operational guidance for measurement. This effort aligns with the mandate received from the 21st International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) in 2023, which calls for standardized approaches to understanding and measuring this issue.
In 2022, the ILO took a significant step forward by developing a set of survey materials including a questionnaire and a survey protocol for testing purposes. The pilot survey questionnaire (Survey on Well-being and Safety of Workers) collects information on the nature of work-related violence and harassment, the context in which the violence is perpetrated, its impact on health and on work, and the reporting and coping mechanisms. The survey uses an act specific approach to reduce the subjectivity of the perception of work-related violence and harassment by asking about specific acts or behaviours that were experienced by the respondents. This approach aims to create a more objective and accurate understanding of what constitutes violence and harassment. Additionally, the survey protocol outlines the ethical, security and confidentiality considerations, acknowledging the sensitive nature of the subject matter and aiming at protecting the safety of the respondents and improving the disclosure of the experience of violence and harassment.
The ILO’s efforts in this area are further supported by the France-ILO partnership on « Combating violence and harassment in the world of work & Equal remuneration and career opportunities for men and women » (2020-2025). The project aims at advancing the knowledge creation, measurement framework and data collection on violence and harassment in the world of work. Within its framework, a research project on “Labour market challenges in West Africa: What impacts of violence and harassment?” has been chosen to carry out three pilot surveys on the Well-being and Safety of Workers in West Africa. The project was coordinated by the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Statistique et d’Economie Appliquée d’Abidjan (ENSEA) in Côte d’Ivoire in collaboration with National Agency for Statistics in Côte d’Ivoire, the National Institute of Statistics and Demography (INSD) of Burkina Faso, National Agency for Statistics and Demography (ANSD) of Senegal and the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement – Laboratoire Population-Développement-Environnement (IRD-LPED France) of France.
Further results from the pilot surveys will be published in 2025 on the France-ILO project webpage. They will help refine the survey instruments and inform the work of the technical working group towards the development of a statistical guidelines on the topic presented at the next ICLS.
