IN 2017, The Bookseller trade publication ran a survey to investigate issues around harassment within the U.K.’s publishing industry. While the results were alarming – more than half of the 388 respondents reported experiencing some type of harassment – there is some positive news. The results led to the development of an industry-wide code of conduct in the U.K. It also inspired Q&Q to take a look at the prevalence of sexual harassment within Canadian publishing.
Although the industry’s whisper networks have existed for decades, it’s been dificult to gauge how many people have been dealing with inappropriate conduct on the job. Our hope is that the results from Q&Q’s survey (starting p. 14) will help establish a baseline from which we can improve. Of the 185 anonymous respondents, 53 per cent reported various abuses – from unwanted verbal remarks and persistent invitations of a sexual nature to stalking and assault.
The numbers tell only part of the story. I was devastated to read irsthand accounts of how harassment has affected not just people’s careers but their mental and physical health and sense of worth. The quotes you see on the cover and throughout the survey results are taken from your industry colleagues’ own words.