More than three-quarters of female tech founders, or 78 percent, have either been sexually harassed or have known someone who’s been sexually harassed in the workplace, according to a new survey of tech founders by seed-stage venture firm First Round Capital. About half of male founders — 48 percent — have had the same experience.
Nearly 80 percent of female tech founders have experienced sexual harassment at work or know someone who has
Female founders have an idea for how to solve it, too.
Rani Molla was a senior correspondent at Vox and has been focusing her reporting on the future of work. She has covered business and technology for more than a decade — often in charts — including at Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal.
The survey provides context for a slew of sexual harassment incidents in tech that have come to light in recent months. Like this one, this one and this one. And the story is far from over.
Similarly, female founders are more likely to think sexual harassment in tech is underreported than their male counterparts. Seventy percent of the women surveyed said the scope of sexual harassment is more significant than the media is reporting, versus 35 percent of men.
Female and male founders also diverged on how best to address sexual harassment in tech, with women preferring that more women should become investors. The men were more likely to think sensitivity training is the answer.
It’s notable that the majority of founders surveyed work for startups whose teams and boards are predominantly male.
The survey includes responses from 869 male and female founders of venture-backed tech startups and attempts to illustrate what it’s like to run a startup these days. Seventeen percent of the people surveyed were women. The survey is in its third year but this is the first time it has asked about sexual harassment.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
