DistantNews
Support us
🇧🇪 Belgium /Culture & Society

Nine in 10 women face sexism at work, study finds

From La Libre Belgique · () French

Translated from French and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • A national Belgian study found that 87% of women reported experiencing gender discrimination at work, while 98% said they had faced sexism during their lives.
  • The study highlighted commonplace sexist behavior, including inappropriate jokes, remarks, looks and advances.
  • More than 75% of women who experienced discrimination did not report it, citing fear of retaliation and a lack of trust in internal procedures.

Sexism follows women through their lives and workplaces, according to a national study cited by Belgium's Council for Equality between Women and Men. The survey, conducted in 2024 among 5,214 people, including nearly 1,000 men, found that 98% of women had experienced sexism and 97% of men had witnessed it.

It is a common thread throughout women's lives, in every environment and at every age.

· Isabella LenarduzziShe explained the study's findings on the persistence of sexism across women's lives.

At work, 87% of women said they had faced gender discrimination. The figure rose to 90% among salaried female managers and stood at 85% among female employees. The study found that the problem appeared across sectors and levels of hierarchy.

Isabella Lenarduzzi, who worked on the study, described sexism as “A common thread throughout women's lives, in every environment and at every age.” The Council for Equality between Women and Men warned especially about “ordinary sexism,” a form of normalized discrimination that the study characterizes as frequent microaggressions, even though the term does not appear in the workplace well-being law.

I was doing an internship at a production company where I found myself with a very temperamental boss who did not trust me at all.

· FlorenceShe described the workplace where she experienced repeated sexist treatment.

Some 88% of respondents said they had encountered inappropriate jokes or remarks, while 58% reported inappropriate looks or advances. La Libre then gathered accounts from young women who experienced gender-based discrimination at work.

But you, anyway, you do not understand, you are a woman.

· Florence's supervisorFlorence quoted one of the sexist remarks directed at her during her internship.

Florence, 22, described several weeks of sexist comments during an internship at a production company. Her supervisor told her that she could not understand things because she was a woman and assigned her sewing tasks for the same reason. When she went to assemble a computer arm herself, he asked whether she knew how to use a screwdriver. Florence said she had to prove for months that she could work like everyone else before gaining his trust. More than 75% of women do not report the discrimination they experience, the study found, citing fear of retaliation and a lack of confidence in internal procedures.

Wait, you know how to use a screwdriver?

· Florence's supervisorShe recalled the reaction when she took tools to assemble computer equipment herself.
About this summary

Originally published by La Libre Belgique in French. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog