Three in ten Indonesian women have experienced sexual harassment

Over half of sexual harassment incidents go unreported

Latest YouGov Omnibus research finds that three in ten (31%) of Indonesian women have experienced sexual harassment, compared to 7% of men.

Of those who have faced sexual harassment, only two in five (43%) reported or rold someone about the incident. Women are more likely to report an incident than men (46% vs. 29%). Amongst those who reported the incident, most told a friend (55%) or family (47%) about being sexually harassed, rather than the police (8%).

The main reason people chose not to report sexual harassment is embarrassment (65%), feeling that no one will do anything about the problem (41%) and fear of repercussion (26%).

The most experienced form of sexual harassment is sexual assault (69%). This is followed by verbal comments of a sexual nature (36%), flashing (32%) and unsolicited messages of a sexual nature (22%).

To avoid being sexually harassed, over half (56%) of Indonesians regularly take precautions. Men and women are both equally likely to take precaution.

The common ways people take precautions are avoiding certain areas (54%), avoiding / minimising interaction with strangers (53%) and dressing a certain way (49%). Women are more likely to dress a certain a way than men (65% vs. 35%) to prevent sexual harassment, and men are more likeky to learn self-defence skills (42% vs. 28%).

Overall, only one in five (19%) of Indonesians are aware of the #MeToo movement. Almost two thirds (63%) think the movement makes people more open to talking about sexual harassment. One in ten (9%) think it makes no different, and the other one in ten (10%) think it makes people less open. The remaining on in six (17%) are undecided.

Jake Gammon, Head of Omnibus APAC at YouGov Omnibus commented: “Due to a lack of official statistics surrounding sexual harassment in Indonesia, we wanted to find out how prevalent the issue was. What is surprising is the number of sexual harassment cases that go unreported, and the reasons behind it. It’ll be interesting to see if these figures change in an age of #MeToo.”

***Results based on 1,000 Indonesians surveyed by YouGov Omnibus