Women in El Salvador face a hostile and violent labor market, reported today data from a survey by the Organization of Salvadoran Women for Peace (Ormusa).

San Salvador.- It is highly worrisome because we say that women have begun to massively join the labor market, but we are joining a hostile and violent labor market, said the coordinator of Ormusa’s Labor and Economic Justice Program, Carmen Urquilla.

The organization’s sampling found that 57 percent of women suffered some form of sexual harassment when they started working, either from co-workers, their bosses, or clients on many occasions.

The survey ‘Sexual violence against women in the labor world’, found that jokes and sexual insinuations, together with messages with erotic content, stand out among the forms of mistreatment.

Of the female workers interviewed, 34 percent said they were not victims of such practices and nine percent said ‘maybe’.

The statistics revealed that sexual abuse at work comes mostly from co-workers and bosses, with a score of 28.8 percent and 24.5 percent for harassment, respectively.

In addition to these problems of daily coexistence in the workplace, women also suffer from a lack of equal pay, less access to education, and family care responsibilities. (PL)