Sexual Assault in the Workplace by Courtney Indiana University

Four years have gone by, faster than I could have ever expected, and I am now a college graduate.  The risk of sexual assault while in college is well known for college women, as it is generally common knowledge that 1 in 4 college women will become a victim of sexual assault during her academic career.  Because of this alarming and realistic statistic, sexual assault preventative resources and services were readily available around my campus, ranging from student run organizations, Greek organizations, philanthropic events and health care services.

                

Now that I am a college graduate and I am preparing for the next stage of my life – becoming a member of the work force, I wonder, are the same sexual  assault resources going to be available to me as a working woman that were available to me as a college student?  In order to find out more, I browsed around the website www.workplacesrespond.org, which is a national resource center that encourages workplaces to respond to domestic and sexual violence. This website is a great resource to learn about sexual and domestic violence within the workplace and to learn how to implement appropriate responses to violence within one’s place of work.

               

  Through out my college experience, the statistic that I stated before (1 out of 4 college women will be a victim of sexual assault while in college) was continuously used as a basis for sexual assault prevention programs and to encourage students to do their part in preventing and spreading awareness about sexual assault.  As I have been in this college bubble for four years, and as difficult as it is to admit, it made it seem as if sexual assault was primarily, if not only, a problem on college campuses.  However, as I have learned and come to realize, that is not at all the case.  According to www.workplacesrespond.org, the U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 8% of sexual assaults occur while a victim is working.  While this percentage is not huge, it still opened my eyes to the reality that even now that I am a college graduate, I still face similar fears of sexual violence as I did as an undergraduate college student.

                

I encourage all readers, especially college graduates, to browse over this website in order to learn more about sexual assault within the workplace, and how to implement prevention resources within your future place of work.  Now that we are members of the “real world,” it is our responsibility to continue doing our part to prevent and spread awareness about sexual assault the same way we did as college students.