With some folks confused about how work cultures condone sexual harassment, and why victims don’t just ‘speak up’ when it occurs, I thought it would be helpful to make a list about the true costs of sexual harassment. 

Time is money. And sexual harassment costs many (most?) women, trans and nonbinary folks a lot of time. Instead of earning, we are spending our time dealing with the emotional reverberations that one feels after experiencing something unconscionable in the company of colleagues who are ‘just having fun.’

Here’s my list about how sexual harassment even destroys one’s ability to control how she spends her time. If sexual harassment didn’t occur, imagine what these (most?) women, trans and nonbinary folks could do (earn) with all of their time. 

1. time spent replaying event
2. time spent talking to friends
3. time spent contemplating what to do 
4. time spent strategizing how to avoid harasser
5. time spent contemplating the risks (they exist) of speaking up, taking action, requesting a shift change or a new team, or requesting that someone be investigated and terminated
6. time spent having the conversations with management about your concerns
7. time spent debriefing how management responded to your concerns
8. time spent crying
9. time spent wondering ‘why me?’
10. time spent wondering ‘am I overreacting?’
11. time spent thinking about finding a new job
12. time spent coming up with a new career strategy because changing jobs was not in your plans
13. time spent finding a new job
14. time spent figuring out that a new job does not guarantee a safe place to work
15. time spent realizing the world sucks
16. time spent deciding if you want to make a political statement by drawing attention to sexual harassment
17. time spent being outraged that to address sexual harassment is to make a political statement
18. time spent being angry that an expectation of being safe at work is too much to ask for
19. time spent realizing that your daughter will likely encounter this nightmare and you won’t be there to stop it 
20. time spent being furious that to try to create a safe work space, you must risk everything 
21. time spent deciding to see a therapist
22. time spent in care
23. time spent healing oneself

I considered adding the hours that each of these things takes but that task is impossible. It takes years, really. I would argue that the more we realize how common sexual harassment in the workplace really is, the more it can be a understood as a reason for the gender pay gap. The economics of sexual harassment, now that the world seems to be waking up to this common yet atrocious phenomenon, require our attention now.

What do you think? Share with us in the comments below.