Publications 2005:11 G ender E quality B aro m eter 2004 Gender Equality Barometer 2004 Distribution and sales: Helsinki University Press PO Box 4 (Vuorikatu 3 A) FI-00014 HELSINKI UNIVERSITY, FINLAND Fax +358 9 7010 2374 Tel +358 9 7010 2363 books@yliopistopaino.fi www.yliopistopaino.fi/bookstore ISSN 1236-2050 ISBN 952-00-1876-X 2005:11 Internet: www.stm.fi MINISTRY OF SOCIAL AFFAIRS AND HEALTH MINISTRY OF SOCIAL AFFAIRS AND HEALTH MINISTRY OF SOCIAL AFFAIRS AND HEALTH Helsinki Finland 2005 Gender Equality Barometer 2004 Ministry of Social Affairs and Health Publications 2005:11 Tuula Melkas ISSN 1236-2050 ISBN 952-00-1876-X (print) ISBN 952-00-1877-8 (PDF) Yliopistopaino, Helsinki Finland 2005 Abstract Gender Equality Barometer 2004. Helsinki 2005. 86 p. (Publications of the Min- istry of Social Affairs and Health, ISSN 1236-2050, 2005:11) ISBN 952-00-1876-X (print) ISBN 952-00-1877-8 (PDF). The 2004 Gender Equality Barometer is the third one in succession. The Ba- rometers of 1998 and 2001 were titled ‘Gender Barometer’ but the title was changed into ‘Gender Equality Barometer’ with this Barometer. The first Gen- der Barometer was published in 1998 and the second in 2001. The Barometer seeks to analyse, by means of men’s and women’s estimates, attitudes and per- sonal experiences, the division of labour and power between men and women and how acceptable the division is in various situations arising in society. People in Finland are quite unanimous in their appreciation of women’s contribution to politics, and of the significance of the country’s first female president to gender equality both nationally and internationally. Finland has a long history of women’s political participation. To a large extent, Finnish women and men agree that the responsibilities in providing financial security for the family, everyday running of the home, and parenting should be shared. This attitude reflects the prevalence and popularity of the two-supporter family model in Finland. Despite the fact that employment even among women with a family is taken almost for granted both as far as attitudes are concerned and in practice, one fe- male employee in four still felt in 2004 that their pay was adversely affected by their gender. Even in 2004, workplaces still viewed the use of statutory parental leaves as a women’s, rather than men’s right. This was particularly true of the private sector, and of all family leaves except the very shortest ones: only 45 per cent of private sector employees thought that it would be easy for a man to take a fam- ily leave of between one and seven months. Over the entire examination period of 1998–2004, no change has taken place in the fact that women shoulder a greater proportion than men of the daily responsibilities of running a home and family life. In fact, mothers’ share in communicating with school or daycare home has grown. Gender Barometers have also studied personal sentiments about interaction between the genders. In 1998 and 2001 it was fairly common among women, in particular, to have encountered in different circumstances members of the opposite sex with patronising or disparaging attitudes. By 2004, these kinds of experiences of the opposite sex had become less prevalent. Yet, sexual harass- ment of women seems to show no signs of abating: even in 2004, one young woman in two had been harassed by men during the past two years. The com- monest experiences were having to listen to dirty jokes unwillingly, or becom- ing the target of offensive remarks about one’s physical appearance or sexuality. Keywords: equality, women, men, women’s position, men’s position, working life, family, sexuality, attitudes, barometer Abstract Foreword The Gender Equality Barometer investigates the experiences and attitudes of Finns in matters concerning equality between the sexes. Conducted every three years, the Barometer provides an opportunity to analyse and monitor changes in people’s views and experiences of equality and thus to assess how well the policies on equality have been implemented and which aspects require more attention. The promotion of equality between women and men also figures prominently in the Government Programme of Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, and the Barometer forms a key element in monitoring the Programme’s equality objectives. The Gender Equality Barometer 2004 was commissioned by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and is the third of such Barometers to be produced. The previous Barometers – for 1998 and 2001 – were produced jointly by the Council for Equality and Statistics Fin- land. The period between the first and third Barometers is one in which gender equality has advanced in Finland, especially in top political posts. For the first time in its history, Finland has had a woman president, a woman prime minis- ter and a woman as chancellor of one of the universities. And almost half of the present Government’s ministers are women. Despite this, much still remains to be done in promoting equality between the sexes. The problems being ad- dressed by the equality policies include reconciliation of work and family, dif- ferences in pay between women and men, the status of women in business and the economy, and violence and harassment directed at women. Promoting gen- der equality also requires attention to issues affecting men, for example sup- porting fathers in taking family leave and in parenting. New themes have also entered the equality debate in the present decade, such as the increase in por- nographic imagery in advertising and family leave costs incurred by employers. The Gender Equality Barometer 2004 provides a wealth of information for use in developing equality policies and stimulating the equality debate. The Gender Equality Barometer 2004 was produced by Statistics Finland for the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. Tuula Melkas, Senior Researcher at Statistics Finland, compiled the survey questionnaire, directed the data col- lection, analysed the results and produced the text of the report. The Gender Equality Barometer steering group comprised Senior Research Officer Päivi Yli-Pietilä (chair), Ministerial Adviser Kari Ilmonen, Senior Research Officer Ilari Keso, Senior Research Officer Jouni Varanka and Ministerial Adviser Marja-Liisa Anttalainen, all of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, and Head of Work Research Unit Anna-Maija Lehto and Planning Officer Pia Pulkkinen of Statistics Finland. Sinikka Mönkäre Minister of Social Affairs and Health Foreword Contents 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2 Assessments of and attitudes to gender equality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Women respected in top jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Agreement about the division of responsibilities within the family . . . . . . . . . . 11 Challenges for the labour market and workplaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Agreement and disagreement between women and men on topical issues associated with sexuality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 3 Experiences of gender equality in the workplace and in educational establishments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Disadvantages caused by gender decreased among employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Disadvantage caused by gender still commonly experienced in educational establishments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 4 Reconciling work and family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Attitudes to family leave are different in the public and private sectors . . . . . . 29 Small changes in the division of responsibilities for household work . . . . . . . . . 31 More disagreement about sharing household jobs than anything else . . . . . . . . 34 5 Many single people feel that a relationship would limit their choices . . . . . . . . 37 6 Patronizing attitudes between the sexes have decreased, but sexual harassment has not . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Patronizing or disparaging attitudes have decreased in all environments . . . . . . 40 Young women are still victims of sexual harassment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 From whom do women experience sexual harassment?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Sexual harassment in the work and study environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Women increasingly afraid of violence at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 7 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Extent of agreement and disagreement among women and men (Chapter 2) . . 52 Subjects on which there was the greatest agreement: at least a four-fifths majority (Chapter 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 A majority of three-quarters to two-thirds (Chapter 2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Subjects on which there was the least agreement (Chapter 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Proper treatment of the opposite sex appears to be on the increase in workplaces and educational establishments (Chapter 3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Slightly easier for men to take family leave (Chapter 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Division of responsibilities in household work is almost unchanged (Chapter 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Single people view relationships and families differently (Chapter 5) . . . . . . . . 62 Patronizing or disparaging attitudes between the sexes have diminished in all environments (Chapter 6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Sexual harassment of women refuses to subside (Chapter 6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Sexual harassment and threat of violence in the work and study environments (Chapter 6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Signs of movement towards gender equality? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Gender Equality Barometer 2004 1 Introduction The Gender Equality Barometer uses attitudes, personal experiences and as- sessments by women and men to analyse the division of responsibilities and power between the sexes and to establish how acceptable this division is within the social circumstances at any given time. Comparison of the Barometer re- sults obtained at different times produces information on the elements of conti- nuity and change in the mutual relationships between women and men. The Barometers operate on the assumption that women and men are suffi- ciently alike to permit an examination of the extent to which gender equality has been realized, while also acknowledging that the worlds of experience of women and men clearly differ from each other. The Gender Barometer is also based on the premise that the meaning of femininity and masculinity is chang- ing historically. The topics examined for the Barometer loosely reflect the de- bate in Finland on gender equality. The Gender Equality Barometer 2004 is the third in the series. The first Ba- rometer was published in 1998 and the second in 2001. The Gender Equality Barometer 2004 includes some of the material from the previous surveys plus some new material. The inclusion of the new material is due in part to the in- formation requirements of the Government Programme and the Government Equality Programme. In addition, the requirement to mainstream, or take into account, gender equality issues in all work performed in public administration, needs to be supported by data on equality and on the attitudes and experiences associated with it. The Gender Equality Barometer 2004 contains a number of new questions inviting respondents’ views on current themes associated with the operation of the labour market and with sexuality. The information for the three Barometers was collected through com- puter-aided telephone interviews in January–February 1998, 2001 and 2004. The original sample in each of the Gender Barometers consisted of about 2,500 people aged 15–74. In 2004, acceptable replies were received from about 75 per cent of the original sample (the corresponding figures for 2001 and 1998 were 76 per cent and 77 per cent, respectively). The 2004 data is made up of replies from 966 women and 941 men, and the basis for the time-series com- parisons covering all three surveys consists of replies from a total of 5,664 peo- ple. The Gender Equality Barometer contains data on certain topics for which there also exists other information collected in a different way. Before compar- ing sets of data that appear to be of similar content, allowance must be made for the way the material has been collected and the specific questions that have been asked. The survey proceeds from assessments of and attitudes to society in general to the respondents’ assessments and experiences of their own workplace or ed- ucational establishment, and then on to personal experiences of reconciling Introduction 5 family and work, and to very personal feelings concerning the interaction be- tween women and men. Incorporated with the 2004 survey questionnaire ap- pended to this report are the percentages by gender derived in the analysis work. These also include figures for the parts of the questionnaire not reported separately in the text. Gender Equality Barometer 2004 6 2 Assessments of and attitudes to gender equality Assessments of and attitudes to gender equality were examined with a general question on gender equality and with the help of more detailed statements. First of all, the respondent’s general assessment of gender equality was exam- ined with a question asking the respondent to ‘quite generally evaluate the sta- tus of Finnish men and women today’. The alternative responses1 were as fol- lows: • the status of men in society is (on average) clearly better than that of women • the status of men in society is (on average) slightly better than that of women • the status of women in society is (on average) clearly better than that of men • the status of women in society is (on average) slightly better than that of men • men and women are equal. Figure 1 shows that the most usual impression in all Barometers was to see the status of men as ‘slightly’ better than the status of women. However, a change seems to have taken place as we reach 2004: the proportion of respon- dents who see the status of men as clearly or slightly better than the status of women has gone down to 60 per cent from the previous figure of 65–66 per cent in the case of male respondents, and to 79 per cent from 84–85 per cent in Assessments of and attitudes to gender equality 7 21 21 22 8 8 10 58 64 62 52 58 55 18 14 14 34 31 30 2 1 1 5 3 3 1 1 1 2 Women 2004 2001 1998 Men 2004 2001 1998 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Status of men clearly better Status of men slightly better Equal status Status of women better Cannot say Figure 1. Impressions of the status of women and men in Finnish society 1 In the questions and alternative responses, any text given in brackets is only used in the interviews when there is a need to explain the question or response in more detail. The ‘cannot say’ response shown in the figures was not offered to respondents as a possible response but was selected only when respondents said they couldn’t answer the question. the case of female respondents. Correspondingly, the proportion of those who see men and women as equal has increased slightly. The genders are now seen as equal in society a little more often than before. Increasing gender equality is seen as benefiting both sexes. In 2004, the statement ‘Men benefit from increased gender equality too’ was added to the questionnaire. The alternative responses to the statement were: • fully agree • more or less agree • more or less disagree • fully disagree. Figure 2 shows that the vast majority of both women and men agree fully or more or less with the statement. Women respected in top jobs One of the clearest changes in all of the issues covered by the Gender Equality Barometer is the increasing significance, in terms of gender equality, that sur- vey respondents have attached to Finland’s first woman president. The ques- tion of how significant the first woman president is for the advancement of gen- der equality in Finland and internationally was asked for the first time in 2001. The alternative responses were as follows: • very significant • rather significant • rather insignificant • more like detrimental. Figures 3 and 4 show that a woman president is in all cases increasingly con- sidered significant for the advancement of gender equality. From 2001 to 2004, the proportion of women and men who considered it very significant increased 13 percentage points when looked at from the Finnish perspective, and 12 per- centage points when looked at from the international perspective. Gender Equality Barometer 2004 8 52 46 32 37 7 9 3 4 6 4 Women 2004 Men 2004 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Fully agree More or less agree More or less disagree Fully disagree Cannot say Figure 2. Statement: Men benefit from increased gender equality too Today, 90 per cent of women consider a woman president to be very signifi- cant or rather significant, irrespective of whether the issue is considered from the Finnish or the international perspective, whereas 78 per cent of men do so when the issue is looked at from the Finnish perspective and 76 per cent when looked at from the international perspective. Assessments of and attitudes to gender equality 9 Very significant Rather significant Rather insignificant More like detrimental Cannot say 49 37 34 22 41 47 42 48 8 14 19 27 1 2 1 2 1 3 2 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Women 2004 2001 Men 2004 2001 Figure 4. Significance of the first woman president in terms of the advancement of gender equality internationally Very significant Rather significant Rather insignificant More like detrimental Cannot say 55 42 36 23 35 41 42 46 8 15 18 28 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 1 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Women 2004 2001 Men 2004 2001 Figure 3. Significance of the first woman president in terms of the advancement of gender equality in Finland From the very beginning, i.e. 1998, the questionnaire statements have in- cluded the following: ‘Women should play a greater role in politics to diversify the range of political expertise’. Attitudes to this statement have scarcely changed at all between the survey dates (Figure 5). However, there has been a very slight increase in the proportion of those who fully agree compared with the corresponding figures in 2001 and 1998. More than 90 per cent of women Gender Equality Barometer 2004 10 Fully agree More or less agree More or less disagree Fully disagree Cannot say 52 47 44 28 24 27 34 36 37 40 44 38 9 11 10 21 24 19 2 3 2 5 4 6 3 3 7 6 4 10 Women 2004 2001 1998 Men 2004 2001 1998 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Figure 6. Statement: Business and the economy would benefit if there were more women in leadership positions than at present Fully agree More or less agree More or less disagree Fully disagree Cannot say 60 58 58 41 36 39 32 36 33 43 49 42 5 3 5 9 10 9 1 1 2 4 3 5 2 2 2 3 2 5 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Women 2004 2001 1998 Men 2004 2001 1998 Figure 5. Statement: Women should play a greater role in politics to diversify the range of political expertise and a fraction under 90 per cent of men fully agree or more or less agree with the statement. From the very beginning, the surveys have also included the statement ‘Busi- ness and the economy would benefit if there were more women in leadership positions than at present’. Figure 6 shows that Finns have not been quite so convinced about the usefulness of women in leadership positions in business as they have been about women in politics. Nevertheless, trust in women’s abili- ties in the business sector has grown systematically: the proportion of women who fully agree has gone up from 44 per cent in the 1998 survey to 52 per cent in 2004, whereas the proportion of men has remained below 30 per cent. If those who fully agree and those who more or less agree are added together, the proportion has gone up from 81 per cent to 86 per cent for women, and from 65 per cent to 68 per cent for men. Agreement about the division of responsibilities within the family The questionnaire statements can also be used to examine the views of Finns on the division of responsibilities within the family. It can be seen that Finns sup- port the dual-earner family model. The idea that women are fully entitled to go to work whatever their family situation is becoming more and more self-evi- dent (Figure 7). Figure 7 shows that among men, the proportion of those who fully agree or more or less agree with the statement has grown from 87 per cent to 92 per Assessments of and attitudes to gender equality 11 Fully agree More or less agree More or less disagree Fully disagree Cannot say 84 80 79 80 77 72 10 11 12 12 13 15 4 6 6 7 7 8 1 2 2 2 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 Women 2004 2001 1998 Men 2004 2001 1998 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Figure 7. Statement: Married women are fully entitled to go to work whatever their family situation cent over the period 1998 to 2004. Among women, the proportion has re- mained at over 90 per cent during the same period. What about responsibility for the family’s income? Is that divided equally between the partners? The survey includes the statement ‘Men bear the pri- mary responsibility for their family’s income’. In 1998, only 48 per cent of men were in full or partial disagreement with this statement, but in 2004, the figure Gender Equality Barometer 2004 12 Fully disagree More or less disagree More or less agree Fully agree Cannot say 39 39 26 28 25 16 32 35 37 33 35 32 16 14 19 21 22 23 12 12 16 17 18 27 1 2 1 2 Women 2004 2001 1998 Men 2004 2001 1998 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Figure 8. Statement: Men bear the primary responsibility for their family's income 75 72 64 58 17 17 24 27 4 6 6 8 3 4 4 5 1 1 2 2 Women 2004 2001 Men 2004 2001 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Fully disagree More or less disagree More or less agree Fully agree Cannot say Figure 9. Statement: It is quite justified that the partner with the lowest income should do a greater share of the household work had risen to 61 per cent. The corresponding figures for women were 63 per cent and 71 per cent (Figure 8). There is less unanimity amongst Finns on this issue than about women being entitled to go to work. It is possible that differ- ences in pay between men and women, which are still considerable, have had an influence on who is thought of as being the main provider in the family. The 2001 Barometer included the statement ‘It is quite justified that the partner with the lowest income should do a greater share of the household work’. Figure 9 shows that hardly anybody was in agreement with the state- ment in 2001 or in 2004. The proportion of men who fully disagree or more or less disagree is approaching 90 per cent, while the proportion of women has in- creased from 89 per cent in 2001 to 92 per cent in 2004. It was thus more com- mon in 2004 than in 2001 to think that a difference in income between part- ners is no basis for an unequal division of household work. From the very beginning, the survey has included the statement ‘Men should participate more in the care and raising of their children than at present’. Al- though some Finns still think that men should be the main providers in the family, no one really disagrees with this statement (Figure 10). Amongst men, the propor- tion who fully agree or more or less agree with this statement has grown from 86 per cent in 1998 to 89 per cent in 2004, whilst amongst women, the proportion has remained at around the 90 per cent mark throughout the same period. Leaving aside the issue of who should be the main provider in the family, the majority views on the issues in this subject area are about 90 per cent. It seems that there are few issues on which the Finns are as much in agreement as they are on the issues of women’s entitlement to go to work and the impor- tance of gender equality in household work and child care. Assessments of and attitudes to gender equality 13 58 62 65 59 59 58 31 28 24 30 29 28 7 7 5 6 7 6 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 5 4 3 6 Women 2004 2001 1998 Men 2004 2001 1998 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Fully agree More or less agree More or less disagree Fully disagree Cannot say Figure 10. Statement: Men should participate more in the care and raising of their children than at present Challenges for the labour market and workplaces The questionnaire statements associated with the workings of the labour mar- ket and the situation in the workplace will now be examined. First, we look at respondents’ views on the opportunities for women in working life compared with the opportunities for men. From the very beginning, the survey has invited respondents’ views on the statement ‘Women’s opportunities in working life are as good as men’s’. There were clear gender differences in attitudes to this at the time of the first study, and the degree of difference has only increased with regard to the proportion who fully agree or more or less agree and the proportion who fully disagree or more or less disagree. Among men, the proportion who agree has grown from 44 per cent in 1998 to 48 per cent in 2004, while the proportion who disagree has gone down from 52 per cent in 1998 to 50 per cent in 2004. Among women, the proportion who agree has gone down from 31 per cent to 29 per cent, and the proportion who disagree has gone up from 67 per cent to 70 per cent (Figure 11). It should be borne in mind, however, that even in 2004, every other man was of the opinion that women’s opportunities in working life were not as good as men’s. The next statement on which women’s and men’s views are examined is as follows: ‘The labour market organizations should be more active in eliminating unjustified differences in pay between women and men’. This statement was added to the questionnaire in 2004 (Figure 12). Figure 12 shows that the vast majority of women, and also of men, fully agree or more or less agree that the labour market organizations should be more Gender Equality Barometer 2004 14 21 25 23 10 9 12 49 45 44 40 42 40 17 17 19 23 24 20 12 12 12 25 23 24 1 1 2 2 2 4 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Women 2004 2001 1998 Men 2004 2001 1998 Fully disagree More or less disagree More or less agree Fully agree Cannot say Figure 11. Statement: Women's opportunities in working life are as good as men's active in eliminating unjustified differences in pay between women and men. Although there are differences of opinion between women and men about the opportunities for them in working life, they take the view that there should not be unjustified differences in pay between women and men. The statement ‘Workplace equality plans are of no value in promoting equality between women and men’ was added to the questionnaire for the 2004 Barometer. Women and men have almost identical attitudes to this state- ment (Figure 13). Figure 13 shows first of all that just under one-fifth of the respondents were unable to form an opinion on the value of equality plans. Looking at those who expressed an opinion, it can be seen that among both women and men, the pro- portion of those who fully disagree or more or less disagree is twice the propor- tion of those who agree. Thus, two out of three of those who expressed an opinion take the view that workplace equality plans can help to promote equal- ity between the sexes in the workplace. Assessments of and attitudes to gender equality 15 80 61 14 25 1 5 1 3 4 6 Women 2004 Men 2004 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Fully agree More or less agree More or less disagree Fully disagree Cannot say Figure 12. Statement: The labour market organizations should be more active in eliminating unjustified differences in pay between women and men 24 21 32 34 20 18 8 10 16 17 Women 2004 Men 2004 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Fully disagree More or less disagree More or less agree Fully agree Cannot say Figure 13. Statement: Workplace equality plans are of no value in promoting equality between women and men It was shown above that Finns are almost unanimous about the dual-earner family model, but is this issue taken into account in the workplace and in the labour market? The statement ‘In the workplace men receive sufficient encouragement to take family leave’ was added to the 2001 Barometer. The 2004 Barometer re- sults show that there has been no change in the attitudes of women or men to this statement. As with the statement considered previously, one-fifth of re- spondents were unable to form an opinion on the statement. If in this context as well, we examine only the stance of the proportion who expressed an opin- ion, we can see that among both sexes, the proportion of those who fully dis- agree or more or less disagree is at least double those who agree. This means that at least two-thirds of both women and men who expressed an opinion think that men do not get enough encouragement in the workplace to take family leave (Figure 14). It is known from other contexts that the labour market is sharply divided along gender lines and that men take statutory family leave much less than women. Thus the costs incurred by the employer through family leave fall to a much greater extent on those who employ women rather than on those who employ men. The statement ‘The employer costs incurred when employees take different forms of family leave should be spread more evenly between fe- male and male-dominated sectors’ was included in the 2004 Barometer (Figure 15). Figure 15 shows that almost all those who expressed an opinion ‘fully agree’ or ‘more or less agree’ that the costs of family leave should be spread more evenly between female and male-dominated sectors. The respondents seem to Gender Equality Barometer 2004 16 27 29 27 27 30 31 30 31 14 12 14 14 9 9 9 10 20 19 20 18 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Women 2004 2001 Men 2004 2001 Fully disagree More or less disagree More or less agree Fully agree Cannot say Figure 14. Statement: In the workplace, men receive sufficient encouragement to take family leave be almost unanimous about the idea that women’s and men’s employers should shoulder the employer’s costs of bringing the next generation into the world in equal quantities. Where the costs of family leave fall is of course a special problem because the Finnish labour market is highly segregated along gender lines. Is there a de- sire to dismantle this segregation? Since 1998, the Barometer has included the statement ‘More men should be employed in social and health care services than at present’. Figure 16 shows that the proportion of those who fully agree or more or less agree added to- Assessments of and attitudes to gender equality 17 59 47 28 32 2 4 1 4 10 13 Women 2004 Men 2004 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Fully agree More or less agree More or less disagree Fully disagree Cannot say Figure 15. The employer costs incurred when employees take different forms of family leave should be spread more evenly between female and male-dominated sectors 46 45 43 32 31 33 33 30 31 38 33 30 13 16 16 19 27 20 6 7 7 7 6 11 2 2 3 4 3 6 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Women 2004 2001 1998 Men 2004 2001 1998 Fully agree More or less agree More or less disagree Fully disagree Cannot say Figure 16. Statement: More men should be employed in social and health care services than at present gether has grown systematically from 1998 to 2004: from 63 per cent to 70 per cent for men and from 74 per cent to 79 per cent for women. Thus, people want more and more men to be involved in jobs in the social and health care services sector. If there were more men on the staff of children’s day care cen- tres, for example, it would give the children a richer, more diverse social envi- ronment. Agreement and disagreement between women and men on topical issues associated with sexuality Five new statements or questions on topical themes associated with sexuality were added to the 2004 Barometer. The new statements are as follows: • Commercial media, TV, the Internet, other entertainment and advertising, have too great an influence on children’s and young people’s understanding of sexuality. • Clothes marketed for young girls are too sexy. • Semi-naked bodies should be shown less in outdoor advertising. Opinions about the purchase of sexual services were also sought from women and men separately. A question from the 1998 Barometer concerning opinions about sentences for rape was also included. The results show that there are major differences in the degree of agreement between women and men on these issues. The analysis is presented in such a way that the statements are examined first, followed by the views concerning prostitution and sentences for rape. In each of these areas we proceed from the points on which there was greatest agreement to those on which there was dis- agreement. When respondents who fully agree and those who more or less agree are added together, almost all women and four-fifths of men are of the opinion that commercial media, i.e. TV, the Internet, other entertainment and advertis- Gender Equality Barometer 2004 18 67 53 26 28 3 9 2 5 2 5 Women 2004 Men 2004 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Fully agree More or less agree More or less disagree Fully disagree Cannot say Figure 17. Statement: Commercial media, TV, the Internet, other entertainment and advertising, have too great an influence on children's and young people's understanding of sexuality ing, have too great an influence on children’s and young people’s understanding of sexuality (Figure 17). On this issue, the gender difference in the proportion of those who agree is 12 percentage points. If we take a look at the next statement, ‘Clothes marketed for young girls are too sexy’, women’s opinions do not essentially differ from their opinions on the previous statement. In fact, 85 per cent of women fully agree or more or less agree with the statement. Among men, on the other hand, the proportion of those who agree goes down to two-thirds. In 2004 there was a gender differ- ence of 18 percentage points in those who agree (Figure 18). The gender difference is at its greatest on the third statement, ‘Semi-naked bodies should be shown less in outdoor advertising’. Three out of four women, but only 47 per cent of men, fully agree or more or less agree with the state- ment. On this issue there is a difference between the sexes of 29 percentage points (Figure 19). Next, we look at opinions concerning rape sentences and the purchase of sexual services. It can be seen that women and men have similar attitudes to- wards condemnation of flagrant sexual violence, but rather different attitudes towards the commercialization of sex. Assessments of and attitudes to gender equality 19 59 39 26 28 7 12 5 9 3 12 Women 2004 Men 2004 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Fully agree More or less agree More or less disagree Fully disagree Cannot say Figure 18. Statement: Clothes marketed for young girls are too sexy 53 25 23 22 13 24 9 25 2 4 Women 2004 Men 2004 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Fully agree More or less agree More or less disagree Fully disagree Cannot say Figure 19. Statement: Semi-naked bodies should be shown less in outdoor advertising Back in 1998, irrespective of gender, people were of the opinion that sen- tences for rape were too lenient, and this opinion has not changed at all over the intervening six-year period (Figure 20). With regard to prostitution, separate questions were asked about the accept- ability of women purchasing sexual services from a prostitute and of men pur- Gender Equality Barometer 2004 20 90 90 86 87 6 5 10 7 4 5 4 6 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Women 2004 1998 Men 2004 1998 Too lenient Appropriate Cannot say Figure 20. Sentences for rape 66 37 32 58 2 5 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% No Yes Cannot say Women 2004 Men 2004 Figure 21. Is it acceptable for a woman to purchase sexual services from a prostitute? 65 37 32 60 3 3 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Women 2004 Men 2004 No Yes Cannot say Figure 22. Is it acceptable for a man to purchase sexual services from a prostitute? chasing sexual services from a prostitute. The response to these two questions was similar, but there was a clear gender difference in the replies: one woman in three was sympathetic to the purchase of sexual services, whereas more than half of the men were. Finnish opinions about the purchase of sexual services are perhaps surprisingly sympathetic, bearing in mind that prostitution is often as- sociated with organized crime. Nevertheless, it should be noted that two out of three women are clearly opposed to the purchasing of sexual services (Figures 21 and 22). Assessments of and attitudes to gender equality 21 3 Experiences of gender equality in the workplace and in educational establishments This chapter examines the experiences of full-time employees and of students and schoolchildren concerning the realization of gender equality in their own operating environment. All the Barometers have put this question to entrepre- neurs, too, but the final samples included too few respondents in this category, particularly women, to allow analysis of their views in terms of gender. Respondents’ views on the realization of gender equality have been exam- ined in all Barometers by means of a general question on the realization of equality and a number of questions concerning gender disadvantage as experi- enced by the respondent. In 1998 and 2004, employees were also asked whether they had requested a pay rise in the past five years. Regarding the general question on gender equality realization, it was also possible to answer ‘not applicable’, since it is difficult to evaluate the realiza- tion of gender equality if there are very few or no members of the opposite sex in the operating environment. These answers and the few ‘cannot says’ were left out of the analysis presented in Figures 23 and 26. Thus the distributions il- lustrate those who actually gave an assessment. The questions concerning gen- der disadvantage experienced by individual respondents did not include ‘not applicable’ among the alternative responses. The results given for gender disad- vantage do, however, include the response ‘cannot say’. Disadvantages caused by gender decreased among employees First, we take a look at the general assessment of the realization of gender equality in the workplace given by full-time employees. After this, we will take a detailed look at gender disadvantages as experienced by individual women. The detailed analysis is limited to answers given by women, since men report a relatively low incidence of disadvantage caused by gender. Next, we shall look at the proportions of women and men employees who have experienced disad- vantages caused by gender in their present work. And finally, we look at re- quests made for a pay rise, as reported in 2004 and 1998. On the basis of the answers given by men it would seem that equality is im- proving in the workplace. The proportion of those stating that gender equality has been realized very well rose by 7 percentage points from 2001 to 2004. In 2004, 83 per cent of all men felt that equality had been realized very well or a rather well, compared with 77–78 per cent in 1998 and 2001 (Figure 23). Gender Equality Barometer 2004 22 The answers given by women do not give such a clear picture of progress in equality. In 2001, the assessments given by women were more negative than in 1998, while in 2004 they returned to the 1998 level: in 2004, 69 per cent of all women were of the opinion that gender equality was realized very well or rather well, as against 62 per cent in 2001 and 67 per cent in 1998. These fig- ures show that the evaluations are slightly more favourable in 2004 than in the previous surveys. On the other hand, the proportion of women employees who felt that equality principles had been implemented very poorly has grown sys- tematically, from 2 per cent in 1998 to 5 per cent in 2004. (Figure 23). Is the slightly more favourable trend in women’s general assessments re- flected in the individual experiences of disadvantage caused by gender? Figure 24 shows that the proportions of those reporting a lot of disadvantage are usu- ally very small and do not indicate clearly that a change has taken place. There- fore, we should be looking at the total lengths of the bars, i.e. the combined proportion of those reporting ‘a great deal’ and ‘somewhat’. The figure shows that women’s personal experiences of disadvantage caused by gender are not increasing at least. The only exception to this general obser- vation is a fairly seldom reported issue, i.e. continuity of employment relation- ship, where the proportion of those who have experienced disadvantage has grown systematically, from 7 per cent to 8 per cent and then to 9 per cent in 1998, 2001 and 2004, respectively (Figure 24). The most commonly reported disadvantage, i.e. concerning pay, apprecia- tion of professional ability, career progress and distribution of workload, would seem to be on the decrease: in these categories, experiences of disadvantage concerning pay, career progress and distribution of the workload were fewer in 2004 than in either of the previous studies. Instead, disadvantage concerning Experiences of gender equality in the workplace and in educational establishments 23 29 21 28 37 30 33 40 41 39 46 47 45 18 23 20 9 16 15 8 12 11 5 6 5 5 3 2 3 1 2 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Very well Rather well Moderately Rather poorly Very poorly Women 2004 2001 1998 Men 2004 2001 1998 Figure 23. How well has gender equality been realized in the workplace, views given by full-time employees appreciation of professional ability has merely returned to the 1998 level. In spite of the fact that experiences of disadvantage decreased, the proportion of those reporting these disadvantages in 2004 still varied from one-quarter to one-fifth of all women employees, depending on the issue (Figure 24). Gender Equality Barometer 2004 24 8 8 7 4 5 3 4 7 4 2 5 6 1 1 1 1 2 1 3 2 1 1 4 3 1 1 1 1 1 18 23 21 19 24 20 18 21 22 17 19 20 13 15 11 9 11 8 6 6 6 7 10 8 6 7 6 5 6 6 Pay 2004 2001 1998 Appreciation of 2004 professional ability 2001 1998 Career 2004 progression 2001 1998 Workload 2004 distribution 2001 1998 Assessing work 2004 results 2001 1998 Receiving 2004 information 2001 1998 Continuity of 2004 employment 2001 1998 Fringe 2004 benefits 2001 1998 Independence 2004 at work 2001 1998 Access to 2004 training 2001 1998 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 % A great deal Somewhat Figure 24. Disadvantage caused by gender to women employees in present work The categories of disadvantage experienced rather rarely (i.e. those men- tioned by fewer than one in five women employees) remained relatively un- changed. Fringe benefits were something of an exception though, since the pro- portion of those reporting disadvantage fell by 6 percentage points from 2001 to 2004, but by just 3 percentage points from 1998 to 2004 (Figure 24). How great a proportion of women and men employees experienced no dis- advantage caused by gender in their work? Figure 25 shows that a large major- ity of men, i.e. three-quarters, experienced no disadvantage caused by gender in their work in 1998 and 2001, and this proportion had increased by 2004. Among women, the direction of the change is the same, but experiences of dis- advantage are much more familiar to them: in 1998 and 2001 the women who reported no disadvantage caused by gender were a clear minority among women employees, and in 2004 they constituted a slim majority. Thus, roughly one in two women employees experienced some disadvantage caused by gen- der in their work in 2004. Finally, we shall look at how common it is among women and men to ask for a pay rise. The 1998 and 2004 Barometers asked if the respondent had re- quested a pay rise during the past five years. Figure 26 shows that gender differ- ences were great among those requesting a pay rise in the 1990s: every second man but only every third woman had asked for a pay rise in 1998. The differ- ence has been reduced in the new millennium, as women have become bolder in asking for pay rises. The previous discussion showed that women reported somewhat less disadvantage caused by gender in pay issues in 2004. Perhaps re- quests for pay increases on the employee’s own initiative contribute to prevent- ing disadvantage caused by gender in the workplace. Experiences of gender equality in the workplace and in educational establishments 25 52 39 40 83 77 77 0 20 40 60 80 100 % Women 2004 2001 1998 Men 2004 2001 1998 Figure 25. The proportion of full-time employees with no experiences of disadvantage caused by gender in their present work Disadvantage caused by gender still commonly experienced in educational establishments Next, we shall look at the realization of gender equality in educational estab- lishments. It must be borne in mind in this context that the analysis includes re- sponses by full-time students and schoolchildren in all types of educational es- tablishment. The final samples taken in the three different surveys vary from 126 to 139, which means the respondents can be classified by type of establish- ment. The following discussion will, however, use a coarser classification. First, we shall look at general assessments of the realization of gender equality in the study environment and then at individual experiences of disadvantage. If the data in Figure 27 are compared with those in Figure 23, we see that experiences of study environments are fairly different from work environments in respect of gender equality realization. The views of female students and schoolgirls about their study environments are favourable enough to parallel those given by male employees concerning their workplaces. Gender differences in the views on realization of equality show the same trend in the study environment as they do in the work environment, however. In 2004, even the majority of male students and schoolboys felt that gender equality had been realized very well, while those giving such favourable evalua- tions were a minority, if a slight one, among female students and schoolgirls. The proportion of female students and schoolgirls who felt that equality had been realized very well or rather well remains at 84–85 per cent, while the equivalent proportion among male students and schoolboys fell from 92 per cent to 88 per cent from 1998 to 2004. The most common disadvantages in the study environment are that the achievements of the opposite sex are evaluated more favourably and that the opposite sex ‘dominates discussions and answering’. There is no clear trend to be detected in the first case: the proportion of those experiencing very much or Gender Equality Barometer 2004 26 38 33 48 49 0 15 30 45 60 % Women 2004 1998 Men 2004 1998 Figure 26. The proportion of full-time employees who have asked for a pay rise during the past five years some disadvantage has remained at or slightly above 40 per cent throughout the research period among male students and schoolboys and at slightly under 40 per cent among female students and schoolgirls prior to 2004, when it fell to 32 per cent. In the latter case, however, i.e. that the opposite sex ‘dominates discussions and answering’, there would seem to be a systematic change: the Experiences of gender equality in the workplace and in educational establishments 27 47 44 48 56 48 49 37 40 37 32 42 43 11 10 12 10 6 6 4 4 2 1 4 2 1 2 1 1 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Women and girls 2004 2001 1998 Men and boys 2004 2001 1998 Very well Rather well Moderately Rather poorly Very poorly Figure 27. Extent to which gender equality has been realized in educational establishments, views given by full-time students and schoolchildren 43 36 35 34 37 36 0 10 20 30 40 50 % Women and girls 2004 2001 1998 Men and boys 2004 2001 1998 Figure 28. The proportions of full-time students and schoolchildren experiencing no disadvantage caused by gender in their studies proportion of those experiencing disadvantage grew from 26 per cent to 35 per cent among male students and schoolboys and fell from 33 per cent to 24 per cent among female students and schoolgirls from 1998 to 2004. If we look at the proportions of those who experience no gender-related dis- advantage in their studies, we see that the proportion of female students and schoolgirls experiencing no disadvantage has grown from 35 per cent in 1998 to 43 per cent in 2004. Among male students and schoolboys, however, the pro- portion of those experiencing no disadvantage has remained at over one-third and would appear to be on the decrease. When the issue was looked at sepa- rately among those who had completed a secondary-level or higher education and among those who had not completed secondary-level education, the find- ings concerning gender differences were similar in all three surveys: among those without secondary qualifications, i.e. those studying in comprehensive schools, upper secondary schools or secondary-level vocational institutions, boys reported more disadvantages than girls in all Barometers. In higher-level education the direction was the opposite: female students reported more disad- vantages than male students. The reduction in the disadvantages experienced among women and girls is primarily among those studying in comprehensive schools or equivalent establishments. Gender Equality Barometer 2004 28 4 Reconciling work and family In this chapter, we will first examine employees’ views on how easy it is for women and men to take different forms of statutory family leave in practice. We will then look at the division of responsibility for household work in dual-earner families with children under 18 years of age. Attitudes to family leave are different in the public and private sectors A new section was added to the 2001 Barometer inquiring how easy or difficult it is to be off work for different kinds of statutory family leave. The questions were asked from full-time employees and focused on their assessment of the situation at their workplace rather than their own personal experience. The questions concerned: • women taking maternity leave and parental leave totalling almost one year • men taking paternity leave for three weeks • men taking parental leave, the duration of which may vary from one to seven months • women taking child care leave to look after a young child until the child is 3 years old • men taking child care leave to look after a young child until the child is 3 years old. In 2004, a further question for both sexes was added to the Barometer. It concerned the ease or difficulty of ‘being on part-time child care leave, i.e. re- duced working hours, which is possible until the end of the child’s second school year’. The alternative responses were: • not difficult at all • somewhat difficult • clearly difficult. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the perception of how easy it is to take statutory family leave, i.e. the proportion of ‘not difficult at all’ responses, and to compare the 2004 results with the 2001 results on all points except part-time child care leave, for which data exists only from 2004. The analysis compares the public sector with the private sector. The percentages in Figures 29–31 are calculated from distributions where the ‘cannot say’ and ‘not appli- cable’ responses have been eliminated, as these make comparisons difficult. We will first consider the public sector. Figure 29 shows that there has been little change in respondents’ views concerning the most frequently used types of family leave. Virtually no one considers that there is any particular difficulty in mothers taking maternity or parental leave, fathers taking paternity leave or mothers taking child care leave. It seems that there is an established practice in Reconciling work and family 29 the public sector whereby taking these kinds of leave is customary. This almost self-evident ease of taking leave, however, only extends to an absence of about three weeks in the case of fathers. Fathers are considered to have more diffi- culty in taking longer family leave, although these problems are decreasing: in 2001, slightly over half of employees in the public sector considered that it is not difficult at all for fathers to take parental leave or child care leave: this fig- ure had increased to two-thirds in 2004 (Figure 29). The situation in the private sector is somewhat different: there are more problems associated with all types of family leave than in the public sector. What is similar is that the shortest types of family leave are considered to be the least problematic in both the public and the private sectors, and no changes in this estimation have occurred since 2001. It now seems slightly easier for mothers to take child care leave, and much easier for fathers to take family leave beyond paternity leave. Even so, in 2004 only less than half of employees in the private sector felt that it is not at all difficult for fathers to take parental leave or child care leave (Figure 30). What about the potential for taking part-time child care leave, i.e. reduced working hours? The results were somewhat surprising. Regardless of gender or sector, taking part-time child care leave seems more difficult than being absent from work altogether, even for longer periods of time (Figure 31). The results for 2001 and 2004 show that it is gradually becoming more ac- ceptable in the workplace for fathers to take family leave beyond the brief pa- ternity leave. However, there are hugely different expectations concerning the behaviour of women and men in regard to family leave, particularly in the pri- vate sector. Gender Equality Barometer 2004 30 90 89 81 70 67 91 87 84 59 57 Maternity leave or parental leave for mothers Paternity leave Child care leave for mothers Parental leave for fathers Child care leave for fathers 0 20 40 60 80 100 % 2004 2001 Figure 29. Views of public-sector employees about the reaction of workplaces to the use of different types of family leave, percentage of 'not difficult at all' responses Small changes in the division of responsibilities for household work Because the interviews for all Barometers were conducted in January–February, the question on the division of responsibilities for household work was asked with regard to the previous autumn. The household work classification has re- mained the same in all Barometers, with the exception of ‘Managing household finances’, i.e. bookkeeping and budgeting, which was added to the survey in 2004. Reconciling work and family 31 84 76 69 45 41 84 77 62 32 29 Maternity leave or parental leave for mothers Paternity leave Child care leave for mothers Parental leave for fathers Child care leave for fathers 0 20 40 60 80 100 % 2004 2001 Figure 30. Views of private-sector employees about the reaction of workplaces to the use of different types of family leave: percentage of 'not difficult at all' responses 65 60 58 40 Part-time child care leave for mothers Part-time child care leave for fathers 0 20 40 60 80 % Public sector Private sector Kuvio 31. Views of employees about the reaction of workplaces to the use of part-time child care leave: percentage of 'not difficult at all' responses The questions concerning all other household work except questions con- cerning the supervision of children’s homework and taking care of small chil- dren (washing, dressing, feeding, etc.) were targeted at all parents of dual-earner families who had children under the age of 18 regularly living in their household. Only those who had children under school age were asked the question concerning child care, and only those with school-age children were asked the question concerning the supervision of homework. These two entries differ from the other data in Figure 32 in that the percentages for the child care question only involve parents of children under school age and the percentages for the homework question only involve parents of school-age children. The alternative responses for questions concerning different household jobs were the following: mother, father, mother and father equally, child or chil- dren and another member of the household. Here, as in other questions, it was also possible to respond ‘not applicable’, meaning that the kind of house- hold job in question does not occur in the family. ‘Cannot say’ was of course also possible. Only the first three responses have been tabulated. It was rare for a respondent not to be able to allocate responsibility, and it was also rare for a child or other member of the household to be responsible for any partic- ular job. Thus, the most common reason for the sum of the percentages being less than 100 per cent in the figure is that the matter in question does not concern the family. The different household jobs are entered in Figure 32, ranked according to how often the mother is ‘mainly responsible’ for them. The following is a sum- mary of the most common alternatives in the division of responsibility for the different household jobs. Figure 32 shows that • mothers were mostly responsible for laundry, ironing and cooking in all pe- riods studied • mothers were usually responsible for dishwashing and cleaning, but there was a fair amount of shared responsibility too • shared responsibility was the most common response in child care, home- work supervision and taking children to school or day care, but the percenta- ge for the mother’s responsibility was almost as large • the highest percentage of shared responsibility was found in keeping compa- ny with children • shared responsibility was the most common response in managing household finances and in taking children to activities, but the percentage for the fat- her’s responsibility was almost as large • fathers were mostly responsible by a wide margin for vehicle maintenance and other maintenance, repair and building work in all periods studied. A systematic shift can be observed from 1998 to 2004 in two areas: • Contact with the day care centre or school was the mother’s responsibility in only 31 per cent of families in 1998 but in 42 per cent of families in 2004. Shared responsibility was the most common response by a very narrow mar- gin in 2001, but this was no longer the case in 2004. Gender Equality Barometer 2004 32 In daily purchases, the percentage for the mother’s responsibility was high- est in 1998. Since then, shared responsibility has been the most common re- sponse (Figure 32). Reconciling work and family 33 83 87 80 79 77 84 68 70 70 51 51 51 49 49 52 42 37 31 40 47 39 38 37 35 36 39 43 26 22 24 18 21 23 17 17 18 16 12 16 14 2 2 2 1 2 3 13 10 15 10 12 11 17 17 19 34 35 35 42 43 38 36 40 40 52 47 54 41 44 39 39 42 35 38 68 69 69 23 24 26 30 30 28 19 18 22 4 3 4 10 14 11 4 3 4 6 6 3 14 12 10 12 11 11 7 6 8 5 5 5 2 2 2 8 7 5 24 18 21 35 4 5 6 14 17 15 25 28 26 8 10 7 91 93 91 88 82 83 Laundry 2004 1998 Ironing 2004 1998 Cooking on 2004 weekdays 1998 Dishwashing 2004 1998 Cleaning 2004 1998 Contact with 2004 day care centre or school 1998 Taking care of children 2004 1998 Supervising children's 2004 homework 1998 Daily purchases 2004 1998 Managing household finances 2004 Keeping company 2004 with children 1998 Taking children 2004 to school or day care 1998 Taking children 2004 to activities 1998 Taking care of 2004 the family pet 1998 Vehicle 2004 maintenance 1998 Other maintenance, 2004 repair and building work 1998 0 20 40 60 80 100 % under school age 2001 2001 2001 2001 2001 2001 2001 2001 2001 2001 2001 2001 2001 2001 Figure 32. Division of responsibilities for household work in dual-earner families with children (children under 18 years), who is mainly responsible? Other changes discernible from Figure 32 are mainly those where the mother’s responsibility increased considerably between 1998 and 2001 and then declined again in 2004. In none of these cases, however, did the mother’s responsibility return to its 1998 level: in laundry, keeping company with chil- dren and taking children to school or day care, the percentage of the mother’s responsibility was clearly higher in 2004 than in 1998. The above shows that the household work that falls principally within the domain of one or other of the parents is clearly ‘technical’ in nature. This, in turn, illustrates that socialization into gender roles is still thriving today: one does what one knows best. The typical household tasks undertaken by women are daily jobs related to clothing, food, cleanliness and hygiene. The typical tasks undertaken by men are jobs that are done as required or at fixed intervals, such as a vehicle inspection. Sometimes these jobs may involve huge efforts, as for instance in building a house. In a family living in a flat, this category is likely to be fairly undemanding. Recalling that survey respondents felt that men should participate more in the care and raising of their children (see Chapter 2), there seems to be plenty of scope for improvement at least in some families. Those household jobs that involve interaction with the children are, however, more commonly managed by both parents than other jobs. Nevertheless, there are also many families where child care, supervising children’s homework or taking children to school or day care is the mother’s responsibility. Only the job of taking children to ac- tivities is more often the father’s than the mother’s responsibility. In the categories showing a systematic shift (contact with day care centre or school, daily purchases), the trend is not towards an increase in the father’s re- sponsibility. Instead, mothers seem to be increasing their responsibilities in bringing up their children, while the more technical tasks involved in supplying the family with daily goods are increasingly the responsibility of fathers. More disagreement about sharing household jobs than anything else The following is an analysis of the experiences of respondents concerning the division of responsibilities for household work and disagreement over various issues between partners. As in the above discussion of different kinds of house- hold work, this examination of respondents’ views on the fairness of the divi- sion of responsibilities covers dual-earner families with children under the age of 18 regularly living in their household. In examining the areas of disagree- ment among respondents, it is evident that the groups of respondents con- cerned in each case vary according to the issue in question. From the very first Barometer, the surveys have included a question about whether ‘it has recently occurred’ to the respondent that he/she bears too much responsibility for the household work. The reply alternatives have been: Gender Equality Barometer 2004 34 • yes, frequently • yes, sometimes • yes, but only rarely • not at all. As we observed above, the percentage for the mother’s responsibility in- creased in many kinds of household jobs between 1998 and 2001. This is also apparent in the results in Figure 33: the percentage of mothers who reported a feeling of having too much of responsibility frequently or sometimes increased by 5 percentage points between 1998 and 2001. The slight changes between 2001 and 2004 have not changed mothers’ views of having too much of re- sponsibility. The percentage of mothers to whom it had never occurred that their responsibility was too great was only 38 per cent in both 2001 and 2004. Fathers, by contrast, were fairly satisfied with the division of responsibilities in household work throughout the study period. The questions focusing on subjects of disagreement between partners were added to the 2001 Barometer, except for one, which was not added until 2004. These questions covered the responsibilities for household work, use of money, child care and child transportation, absence from work in the case of a child’s illness, and time used for leisure activities. The question about child care and child transportation was only put to those who had children under the age of 18 regularly living in their household. The question about absence from work was only put to those who had children under the age of 10 regularly living in their household. All other questions were put to all survey participants in per- manent cohabitation. The reply alternatives were: • frequently Reconciling work and family 35 18 18 16 3 1 1 29 28 25 3 2 6 15 16 16 11 11 7 38 38 43 83 86 86 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% % Women 2004 2001 1998 Men 2004 2001 1998 Yes, frequently Yes, sometimes Yes, but only rarely Not at all Figure 33. Having too much responsibility for the household work, parents of dual-earner families with children? • somewhat • never. Because very few respondents chose ‘frequently’, the figure combines the two responses ‘frequently’ and ‘somewhat’. Figure 34 shows first of all that those reporting disagreements with their partner were not in the majority in either study. Secondly, in matters where comparison over time is possible, the incidence of disagreements seems to have continued to decline. Thirdly, women seem to report disagreements more fre- quently than men, with two exceptions: both sexes report disagreements in lei- sure activities equally, while women report disagreements regarding being off work in the case of a child’s illness less frequently than men. However, in the latter case the sample is so limited that the result cannot be considered signifi- cant. Comparing the incidence of partner disagreements in the various categories, we may note that household work continues to cause the greatest incidence of disagreement, regardless of the fact that this incidence has gone down for both women and men. (The results in Figure 34 cover all people in permanent co- habitation, although the trend is similar even when the sample is restricted to families with children.) Gender Equality Barometer 2004 36 38 35 28 23 24 17 21 22 13 17 46 42 36 29 28 22 12 20 Sharing the housework Men Use of money Men Child care, child transportation, etc. Men Time used for leisure activities Men Being off work in the case of a child's illness Men 0 20 40 60 2004 2001 Women Women Women Women Women Figure 34. Subjects of disagreement between partners, incidence of respondents reporting disagreements 5 Many single people feel that a relationship would limit their choices This chapter discusses the attitudes of unmarried people living alone towards family life and relationships. All the Barometers have also asked the same ques- tions from divorcees living alone, but this analysis is restricted to married peo- ple living alone. There are too few divorcees living alone in the Barometer data to allow separate examination of the views of women and men. Attitudes concerning family life and relationships were investigated through responses to the following four statements: • A relationship may involve mental or physical subordination (1998)/A rela- tionship may involve mental or physical violence (2001, 2004). • The essential household work in a family restricts leisure activities and hob- bies. • A relationship would in itself limit the scope for choice in one’s own life. • It would be difficult to agree on money matters in a family. The different reply alternatives were fully agree, more or less agree, more or less disagree, fully disagree and cannot say. As Figure 35 shows, the most common area of agreement in all three surveys was that a relationship may involve subordination or violence. This is the only statement for which the majority of both women and men responded fully agree or more or less agree in all three surveys. We should note, however, that this statement is different from the others in that it only mentions a possibility, whereas the other three are definite statements. Also, the substitution of the word ‘subordination’ with the word ‘violence’ in the 2001 and 2004 Barome- ters makes comparison difficult. The only systematic change in responses to this statement has been the increase of the incidence of ‘fully disagree’ among women from 1998 to 2004. The following is a discussion of the statements ‘The essential household work in a family restricts leisure activities and hobbies’ and ‘A relationship would in itself limit the scope for choice in one’s own life’, which compete for second place in the incidence of agreement (Figure 35). Adding up the incidence of ‘fully agree’ and ‘more or less agree’, we find that in 1998 second place was taken by the statement ‘The essential household work in a family restricts leisure activities and hobbies’ among women and by the statement ‘A relationship would in itself limit the scope for choice in one’s own life’ among men. The incidence of agreement with the statement ‘The es- sential household work in a family restricts leisure activities and hobbies’ in- creased hugely among both sexes from 1998 to 2001, to a point where it at- tained second place among male respondents. In the 2004 survey, the incidence of agreement with this statement decreased by almost as much as it had previ- ously increased. The statement ‘A relationship would in itself limit the scope Many single people feel that a relationship would limit their choices 37 for choice in one’s own life’ now takes second place among both sexes (Figure 35). Perhaps household work is something that was still self-evident for many in 1998, but this was no longer the case in 2001. But why, then, did the distaste for household work drop in 2004? This could reflect the fact that cooking, furnishing and decorating seem to be popular pursuits these days. Household Gender Equality Barometer 2004 38 37 46 38 32 29 19 5 15 6 16 20 9 5 13 9 15 20 8 4 7 2 7 3 3 22 28 31 24 29 31 37 30 25 36 25 33 32 35 25 28 36 19 20 16 10 17 14 8 6 4 6 5 5 6 16 18 29 18 19 19 22 28 15 18 20 25 20 22 26 22 25 33 31 22 17 32 36 28 37 34 30 23 33 24 36 21 46 34 24 42 48 49 48 44 53 39 4 8 7 1 16 5 3 10 7 3 15 5 3 5 5 6 8 6 14 10 5 17 Women 2004 2001 1998 Men 2004 2001 1998 A relationship reduces scope for choice Women 2004 2001 1998 Men 2004 2001 1998 Household work limits hobbies Women 2004 2001 1998 Men 2004 2001 1998 It is difficult to agree on money matters Women 2004 2001 1998 Men 2004 2001 1998 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% A relationship may involve violence Fully agree More or less agree More or less disagree Fully disagree Cannot say Figure 35. Attitudes of unmarried people living alone towards family life and relationships work of course does not remain unchanged over the years, and there are now, for example, all kinds of ready meals and other things making food preparation easier. As for the statement ‘A relationship would in itself limit the scope for choice in one’s own life’, adding up the incidence of ‘fully agree’ and ‘more or less agree’ we find that this has increased systematically among men: in 2004, as much as half of the male respondents agreed with this statement. Among women, the incidence increased by 14 percentage points between 1998 and 2001 and has remained stable thereafter. However, a polarization among women can also be detected: the incidence of ‘fully disagree’ has grown system- atically from 1998 to 2004 (Figure 35). The lowest incidence of agreement was found for the statement ‘It would be difficult to agree on money matters in a family’. Although the incidence of agreement is fairly low, the results here are the clearest: the incidence of ‘fully agree’ and ‘more or less agree’ has grown systematically for both sexes from 1998 to 2004 (Figure 35). The above results demonstrate that there seem to be diverging trends among unmarried people living alone: both sexes show an increase in the percentage of those who consider that a relationship reduces scope for choice or that it is dif- ficult to agree over money matters. On the other hand, there is an increasing number of women who fully disagree with the statement ‘A relationship would in itself limit the scope for choice in one’s own life’. Many single people feel that a relationship would limit their choices 39 6 Patronizing attitudes between the sexes have decreased, but sexual harassment has not In this chapter, we will discuss experiences of interaction between the sexes in various environments. First, we look at patronizing or disparaging attitudes to- wards the opposite sex and developments in this during the period 1998–2004. Next, we examine sexual harassment over the same period and then, at the end of the chapter, we look at experiences of the threat of violence. Patronizing or disparaging attitudes have decreased in all environments The following question was used in the Barometer surveys to find out the prev- alence of patronizing or disparaging attitudes on the part of the opposite sex: Gender Equality Barometer 2004 40 5 2 1 4 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 3 2 2 2 1 20 40 35 17 32 21 15 26 21 8 11 11 9 17 14 7 9 11 12 10 9 4 5 9 9 8 13 4 5 7 2 2 6 2 2 5 2001 1998 Reported by men 2001 1998 2001 1998 2001 1998 2001 1998 2004 2001 1998 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 % Several A few One Reported by women 2004 2004 2004 2004 2004 Reported by men Reported by women Reported by men Reported by womenIn organizations and associations At the workplace In the study environment Figure 36. Members of the opposite sex in public life with a patronizing or disparaging attitude ‘Are there any members of the opposite sex (in the interview: men/women) in your various environments who, at least sometimes, take a patronizing or dis- paraging attitude towards your comments or suggestions?’ In this context ‘vari- ous environments’ means the workplace, school or study environment, organi- zations and associations, relatives, neighbourhood, hobby environments and ‘other friends’. Reply options for each environment were: no, one, a few and several. Inevitably, some respondents answered ‘not applicable’, meaning that the respondent does not have such an environment or that there are barely any members of the opposite sex in that environment. From the results below we have excluded those who replied ‘not applica- ble’. The questions concerning workplace, school or study environment and or- ganizations and associations naturally only apply to part of the population. Pre- liminary data enabled us to target the workplace and study environment ques- tions appropriately, but there was no preliminary data on participation in asso- ciations or societies, and thus this question was put to all respondents and con- Patronizing attitudes between the sexes have decreased, but sexual harassment has not 41 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 14 22 17 9 15 14 10 18 14 9 16 10 4 8 5 4 7 6 5 6 7 3 6 6 6 7 11 3 6 6 3 5 7 3 3 5 3 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 2 1 1 2 Among relatives 2001 1998 2004 2001 1998 Among friends 2001 1998 2004 2001 1998 Among neighbours 2001 1998 2004 2001 1998 In hobby environments 2001 1998 2004 2001 1998 0 10 20 30 40 % 2004 2004 2004 2004 Several A few One Reported by men Reported by women Reported by men Reported by women Reported by men Reported by women Reported by men Reported by women Figure 37. Members of the opposite sex in private life with a patronizing or disparaging attitude sequently received numerous ‘not applicable’ responses. For consistency’s sake, ‘not applicable’ responses were excluded from all categories of environment. The ranking of different environments in terms of the frequency of a patron- izing or disparaging attitude of the opposite sex has not changed during the pe- riod 1998–2004. It occurs (Figures 36 and 37): • most commonly in schools or study environments • second most commonly in workplaces and among relatives • third most commonly among friends and in organizations and associations • least commonly among neighbours and in hobby environments. If we consider the total lengths of the bars in the figures, i.e. the incidence of respondents having any experience at all of patronizing or disparaging attitudes among members of the opposite sex, we find that these have decreased among both women and men in all environments, whether we compare the 2004 re- sults to 2001 or 1998. The situation seems to be equalizing between environ- ments and genders: Firstly, the decrease has been greater in study and work en- vironments, organizations and associations, and among relatives and friends than among neighbours or in hobby environments, where the incidence was quite low to begin with. Secondly, although the figures for men have been lower across the board than those for women, the latter have decreased more than the former. However, we should note that even in 2004 the incidence of respondents reporting at least one member of the opposite sex with patronizing or disparaging attitudes was 10 percentage points higher among women than among men (Figures 36 and 37). Young women are still victims of sexual harassment All three Gender Barometers have also included questions about sexual harass- ment by the opposite sex. In the survey, sexual harassment by a member of the opposite sex was defined as ‘conduct of a sexual nature that is undesired, one-sided and may involve coercion’. The results presented in this chapter do not, therefore, cover sexual interaction by mutual consent or sexual harassment between members of the same sex. The respondents were asked whether they had had any experiences of the following four forms of sexual harassment in the past two years: • inappropriate remarks concerning the body or sexuality of the respondent • proposals of sexual relations in an improper context • dirty jokes or indecent expressions which the respondent considered offensi- ve together referred to below as ‘dirty jokes’ • physical advances in an undesired manner. Figure 38 shows that there are differences between the sexes with regard to the category of sexual harassment. Among men, there is little variation in inci- dence: in all categories and in all studies, the incidence has remained below 10 per cent. By contrast, one in five women have at various times experienced dirty jokes and inappropriate remarks, and even in the categories of physical ad- Gender Equality Barometer 2004 42 vances and proposals of sexual relations, the reported incidence is somewhat higher among women than among men. We saw above that the incidence of members of the opposite sex displaying a patronizing or disparaging attitude had decreased in the various environments studied. Here, by contrast, we see that the incidence of sexual harassment has remained almost exactly the same as it was in 2001 (Figure 38). The incidence of sexual harassment differs by age group, particularly among women. The following is a discussion of women and men of different ages who reported sexual harassment, i.e. gave a positive response to at least one of the four questions. Figure 39 shows that the incidence of sexual harassment among women un- der the age of 35 is in a class of its own: half of all female respondents under 35 in all surveys reported experiencing sexual harassment. This is not to say that being subject to sexual harassment correlates with youth. Rather, the differ- ences between genders are at their greatest in the younger age groups. It is true that the differences in incidence between young women and young men are largely due to the most common forms of sexual harassment: about one in three young women report having experienced inappropriate remarks and dirty jokes at one time or another, whereas the figure among young men is less than 10 per cent. However, there are also differences in the rarer categories of sexual Patronizing attitudes between the sexes have decreased, but sexual harassment has not 43 20 22 18 19 19 16 13 13 12 11 11 10 5 4 3 6 6 6 7 6 9 7 8 5 Dirty jokes 2001 1998 Inappropriate remarks 2001 1998 Physical advances 2001 1998 Proposals of sexual relations 2001 1998 0 5 10 15 20 25 % Female respondent Male respondent 2004 2004 2004 2004 Figure 38. Experiences of sexual harassment in the past two years, by gender of respondent harassment: for example, in 2004, physical advances were reported by 22 per cent of young women but by only 9 per cent of young men. Figure 38 indicates that there has been little change in the various forms of sexual harassment reported by women and men. Figure 39, however, shows that different age groups have been affected in different ways: Young women continue to be the group most affected by sexual harassment. The incidence of sexual harassment experienced by young men has system- atically decreased from 1998 to 2004. The incidence of sexual harassment in the category of middle-aged people (age 35–54) has increased in general, while differences between the sexes have remained the same. The incidence of sexual harassment in the category of older people (55+) has remained at its previous low level. From whom do women experience sexual harassment? Questions on the particular context of sexual harassment were introduced into the survey in the 2001 Barometer. Those who had experienced sexual harass- ment were asked: • Who has or have made inappropriate remarks concerning your body or sexu- ality? • Who has or have proposed sexual relations to you in an improper context? Gender Equality Barometer 2004 44 50 51 47 32 29 24 11 11 12 18 22 23 19 14 13 3 8 6 Under 35 years old 2004 2001 1998 35–54 years old 2004 2001 1998 55+ years old 2004 2001 1998 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 % Female respondent Male respondent Figure 39. Experiences of sexual harassment in the past two years, by gender and age group of respondent • Who has or have told dirty jokes or used indecent expressions that you have considered offensive? • Who has or have made physical advances towards you? The reply options aimed at clarifying whether sexual harassment also occurs between parties who have a special relationship to one another, such as subor- dinate and superior. The options were: colleague, superior, customer, fellow student, teacher, pupil, family member, other relative, ex-partner or ex-com- panion, neighbour, person belonging to one’s circle of friends, other acquain- tance, unknown and other.2 We wanted to reserve the category of ‘unknown’ for totally unknown people, for example anyone walking along the street or travelling in public transport. Therefore the interview instructions requested the interviewers to place in the category ‘other’ harassers who could not be placed in the other categories but who, for example because of their occupa- tion, had something to do with the respondent. Next we shall examine the different categories of harasser in relation to the different forms of sexual harassment. The examination is restricted to the re- plies of women, because the results for men seem to show random variance, probably due to the small size of the sample: there were only 139 men in the 2001 data who reported experiencing sexual harassment (135 in 2004). The three most common types of female harasser for men were, in order of inci- dence, other acquaintance, unknown and person belonging to one’s circle of friends in 2001, and unknown, other acquaintance and colleague in 2004. Figure 40 shows first of all that the ranking of types of harasser was largely the same for women in 2001 and 2004. Only the decrease in the number of re- sponses naming ex-partner or ex-companion has changed its ranking: this cate- gory was sixth in 2001 but eighth in 2004. Secondly, we observe that ‘unknown’ is the most common type of harasser for women, mentioned by 41 per cent of respondents in 2004 (43 per cent in 2001). This means that, correspondingly, the majority of the women who re- ported experiencing sexual harassment (59 per cent in 2004 and 57 per cent in 2001) mentioned only harassers that were known to them in some way. The most frequently named are other acquaintance – whoever that may be – and colleague. The next categories in the ranking are customer and person belong- ing to one’s circle of friends. All other types of harasser are quite rare. The ranking of categories of harasser for women varies somewhat depending on the category of sexual harassment: • Proposals of sexual relations are most frequently made by unknown persons, other acquaintances and persons belonging to one’s circle of friends. This ca- tegory also included customers in the 2001 Barometer, but no longer in Patronizing attitudes between the sexes have decreased, but sexual harassment has not 45 2 The 2001 Barometer had a catch-all category labelled ‘customer or pupil/student’. The incidence of this category proved so high in the 2001 Barometer that it was decided to separate customers and pupils/students into two separate categories for the 2004 Barometer. Only three respondents mentioned a pupil/student, and it is thus probable that practically all the harassers in the above category in the 2001 Barometer were actually customers. For the purposes of this discussion, we are using ‘customer’ and ignoring the pupil/student factor. 2004. Increasingly, proposals of sexual relations correlate with anonymous urban life and private life. • Physical advances are also most frequently made by unknown persons and ot- her acquaintances, though here the third most common type of harasser is colleague. • The three most common types of harasser in the case of inappropriate re- marks were (in order of rank) unknown persons, other acquaintances and customers in 2001, and unknown persons, customers and colleagues in 2004. • Dirty jokes were most commonly reported for unknown persons, colleagues and other acquaintances in 2001, and colleagues, other acquaintances and unknown persons in 2004. The above shows clearly that sexual harassment experienced by women does not exclusively or even predominantly occur in random encounters with strangers in public places. We shall next discuss sexual harassment in the work environment and the study environment – key areas of everyday life. Gender Equality Barometer 2004 46 41 25 24 15 12 5 4 3 3 3 2 2 1 43 28 22 16 18 7 4 9 4 3 4 3 1 0 10 20 30 40 50 % 2004 2001 Unknown Other acquaintance Colleague Customer Person belonging to your circle of friends Fellow student Superior Ex-partner or ex-companion Neighbour Other Relative Family member Teacher Figure 40. Categories of harasser, percentages as reported by women who had experienced sexual harassment Sexual harassment in the work and study environments Sexual harassment in the work environment was defined as any of the four forms of sexual harassment committed by colleagues, superiors or customers. If the re- spondent (full-time employee) had reported at least one of the above three cate- gories in connection with one form of sexual harassment, he/she was considered a victim of sexual harassment in the work environment. In both the 2001 and 2004 surveys, 18 per cent of women employees reported having experienced this type of sexual harassment within the previous two years. The corresponding fig- ures for male employees were 5 per cent in 2001 and 7 per cent in 2004. Sexual harassment in the study environment was defined as sexual harass- ment committed by fellow students and teachers. Those responsible for such occurrences were, above all, fellow students (Figure 40). In the study environ- ment, gender differences in experiences of sexual harassment are smaller than in the work environment, the figures being 16 per cent in 2001 but only 12 per cent in 2004 for female students, and 9 per cent and 8 per cent for male stu- dents, respectively. The following is a discussion of the contexts of sexual harassment. This dis- cussion is confined to women employees, as the sample contains too few male employees and school children and students of either sex with experiences of sexual harassment for any meaningful detailed study. Sexually harassed women employees in full-time employment at the moment of the interview reported different types of harasser as follows: colleagues (63 per cent in 2001 and 67 per cent in 2004), customers (35 per cent and 40 per cent), and superiors (7 per cent and 6 per cent). We shall examine which form of sexual harassment is most commonly found in the work environment. Figure 41 shows experiences of sexual harassment from various types of harasser in the work environment in categories that had an incidence of at least 10 per cent in 2004. The figures are percentages of the group of women employees who re- ported having experienced sexual harassment in the work environment during the previous two years. Figure 41 shows that sexual harassment of women employees in the work environment for the most part consists of exposure to inappropriate remarks about one’s appearance or offensive dirty jokes or similar verbal abuse from customers or colleagues. On the other hand, physical advances are by no means a marginal phenomenon: nearly one in five women employees having experi- enced sexual harassment in the work environment reported, in both surveys, that a colleague had made physical advances towards them. The percentage of all full-time women employees in the survey who reported experiencing physi- cal advances from a colleague is 3.2 per cent. Based on the number of respon- dents and this percentage, the corresponding figure for the main population (i.e. women employees in full-time employment in Finland) would be some- where between 5 per cent and 1.5 per cent (with a 95 per cent probability), Patronizing attitudes between the sexes have decreased, but sexual harassment has not 47 and the number of women experiencing this form of harassment would thus be between 41,000 and 14,000. This is not an insignificant number of people. Figure 41 shows no proposals of sexual relations or sexual harassment by su- periors. In 2001, proposals of sexual relations were made by colleagues in 15 per cent and by customers in 11 per cent of the cases of women employees hav- ing experienced sexual harassment, but in 2004 these figures had dropped to clearly below 10 per cent. It remains quite rare for a superior to be reported as the harasser: for those women who had experienced sexual harassment the fig- ures for inappropriate remarks and physical advances by superiors were 6 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively, in 2001, but both had fallen to 1 per cent in 2004. Proposals of sexual relations by superiors were reported by 2 per cent of women employees who had experienced sexual harassment in the work envi- ronment in 2001, but by none in 2004. By comparison, dirty jokes told by su- periors were encountered by 4 per cent of women employees having experi- enced sexual harassment in the work environment in both surveys. Based on the results of these two surveys, the trend seems to be that sexual harassment by superiors is increasingly rare. Also, in sexual harassment perpe- trated by colleagues and customers, the focus seems to have shifted from pro- posals of sexual relations to inappropriate remarks about women’s personal ap- pearance and dirty jokes. Gender Equality Barometer 2004 48 55 31 29 25 18 12 54 27 25 23 17 12 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 % 2004 2001 Dirty jokes told by colleagues Inappropriate remarks made by customers Inappropriate remarks made by colleagues Dirty jokes told by customers Physical advances by colleagues Physical advances by customers Figure 41. The most common forms of sexual harassment experienced by women employees in the work environment Women increasingly afraid of violence at work Each of the Barometer surveys has also asked whether the respondent was afraid of becoming a victim of violence or whether he/she was wary because of that. The 1998 survey restricted the questions to traditional ‘city fears’ only, i.e. whether the respondent was afraid when moving about alone outdoors in the evening and at night. In 2001, we wanted to extend the question to other environments, too: public transport vehicles in the evening and at night, duties at work, within the family and being alone at home or in a summer cottage. The last-mentioned environment was dropped from the 2004 Barometer be- cause it proved somewhat unsatisfactory in interviews: it is possible to feel a different type of fear at home and at a summer cottage. The reply options in these questions were often, at least every now and then, very seldom and never. Because most of the questions concerning fear were asked in the 2001 inter- views for the first time, Figure 42 only shows the results for 2001 and 2004. The ‘not applicable’ replies are excluded from the distributions presented. Figure 42 shows that traditional ‘city fears’, i.e. experiencing a threat of vio- lence when moving about in public spaces (outdoors or in public transport) in the evening or at night, still persist even though they are decreasing. The situa- tion for ‘when out alone’ can be followed from 1998, and taking this as the starting point we find that women’s fears regarding moving about outdoors have clearly and systematically declined. In 1998, 20 per cent of female respon- Patronizing attitudes between the sexes have decreased, but sexual harassment has not 49 14 18 3 5 6 9 2 2 2 3 1 2 30 35 15 15 18 23 7 7 12 9 5 6 1 1 1 24 24 18 26 19 22 12 15 10 8 6 6 2 2 1 1 Women 2004 2001 Men 2004 2001 Public transport, evening/night Women 2004 2001 Men 2004 2001 At work Women 2004 2001 Men 2004 2001 In the family Women 2004 2001 Men 2004 2001 0 15 30 45 60 75 90 % Often At least every now and then Very seldom Moving about alone outdoors, evening/night Figure 42. Are you afraid of becoming a victim of violence, or are you wary because of this? dents experienced a threat of violence ‘often’ and 37 per cent ‘at least every now and then’. A clear majority of female respondents, therefore, experienced a threat of violence at least every now and then. The figures in 2001 were 18 per cent and 35 per cent, respectively, but in 2004, they were only 14 per cent for often and 30 per cent for at least every now and then (Figure 42). The trend with men has been similar: the combined total of male respondents experienc- ing a threat of violence at least every now and then was 29 per cent in 1998 but 18 per cent in 2004. The incidence of experiencing a threat of violence in pub- lic transport in the evening or at night has decreased in parallel with that of be- ing out alone (Figure 42). Although fewer respondents report being afraid or wary in public spaces in the evening or at night, even in 2004 fewer than one in three women reported no fear when being alone in the evening or at night (Figure 42). Are such fears harmless? In all Barometers those who reported fear often or at least every now and then when out alone or in public transport were asked whether they had re- stricted the number of evenings they go out due to fear or being wary, or had used a taxi. The incidence of this decreased somewhat from 1998 to 2001: 33 per cent of female respondents and 16 per cent of male respondents restricted their evening plans because of fear in 1998, but in 2001 and 2004 the figures were 26–27 per cent for women and 11–12 per cent for men. The use of taxis decreased somewhat from 2001 to 2004: 56 per cent of women and 28–29 per cent of men used a taxi because of the above fears in 1998 and 2001, but only 50 per cent of women and 24 per cent of men in 2004. Thus, while city fears continue to restrict people’s lives and cause extra costs, they do not do so to quite as great an extent as they used to. What about other threats of violence experienced by respondents? Very few reported a threat of violence in the family, but the incidence of women report- ing this has remained steady at 3 per cent (Figure 42). The threat of violence in the family, even if rare, is probably vastly more significant than any city fears, however common the latter may be. The incidence of threats of violence experienced at work by women has, by contrast, increased: the percentage of those experiencing a threat of violence at least every now and then has risen from 9 per cent to 12 per cent, and that of those experiencing it very seldom has risen from 8 per cent to 10 per cent. The distribution in Figure 42 includes all respondents, i.e. also people who are not in full-time employment. This difference was found not to be statistically sig- nificant in this sample when the results for 2001 and 2004 were tested. Re- stricting the test to employees and self-employed in full-time employment did not produce a statistically significant difference either. However, restricting the test to employees produced a difference between the 2001 and 2004 results that is of borderline statistical significance, in other words, fear of violence has become more common among women employees in full-time employment (with about a 95 per cent probability). Gender Equality Barometer 2004 50 The 2001 Barometer looked at the connections between sexual harassment and threats of violence experienced by women. The focus was, on the one hand, on the correlation between threats of violence in public spaces and re- porting of the ‘unknown’ harasser category in the sexual harassment responses, and on the other hand, on the correlation between threats of violence at work and the reporting of sexual harassment in the work environment, i.e. by col- leagues, customers or superiors. Threats experienced in public spaces also cor- related with the appearance of these types of harassment, but the correlation of threats of violence at work and sexual harassment experienc