SEXUAL HARASSMENT EXPERIENCES AND EQUAL-OPPORTUNITY PERCEPTIONS OF NAVY WOMEN

In 1989, the Navy began tracking the sexual harassment rates among its officer and enlisted personnel by administering the Navy Equal Opport unity Sexual Harassment (NEOSH) Survey on a biennial basis. While prev ious reports on the results of the NEOSH Survey have discussed the occ urrence, frequency, and effects of sexual harassment in the Navy [A.L. Culbertson, P. Rosenfeld, and C. E. Newell (1993) Sexual Harassment i n the Active-Duty Navy: Findings from the Navy-Wide Survey (TR-94-2), San Diego, CA: Navy Personnel Research and Development Center], this s tudy examines whether victims of sexual harassment differ in their per ceptions of equal opportunity (EO) climate from those who have not bee n harassed. Data from the 1991 NEOSH Survey were reanalyzed. Sixty-sev en percent of the women officers were White, 25% African-American, and 18% Hispanic. Of the women enlisted, 52% were White, 31% African-Amer ican, and 18% Hispanic. The results indicated that women who were sexu ally harassed perceived that there was less EO in the Navy than women who had not been harassed. This was true for both officer and enlisted personnel. In addition, specific organizational consequences of sexua l harassment were identified.