Through cooperation between researchers and police services in Norway, Sweden and Iceland, a Nordic project is examining how sexual harassment is understood, and measures that may help prevent it.
Read this article in Norwegian on Arbeidsliv i Norden
The research project Understanding and Intervening against Sexual Harassment at Work (UISH) is funded by NordForsk through the “Future Working Life” project.
The aim is not only to reduce harassment but to help make the police a safe workplace that can both recruit and retain staff.
Nordic research project on sexual harassment in the police
Understanding and Intervening against Sexual Harassment at Work (UISH) is a Nordic research project on sexual harassment in the police.
The project is carried out in collaboration with the Norwegian Police University College, Linköping University in Sweden and the University of Iceland.
The researchers are examining the perspectives of people who experience harassment, those who perpetrate it and colleagues who witness incidents.
The aim is to develop and test research-based methods to prevent sexual harassment and strengthen the working environment in the police.
The project is funded by NordForsk through the Future Working Life programme and runs from 2023 to 2028.
The project builds on the experiences gained from the earlier Nordic research project Speak Up! (SUSH), that showed how challenging it is to document the effects of traditional measures against sexual harassment.
At the time, researchers concluded that existing measures did not produce clear results, but they also stressed that the work must be seen as a long-term process.
A different problem from different perspectives
Earlier research has shown that sexual harassment occurs both in the police and armed forces, but the prevalence varies depending on how questions are formulated.
Brita Bjørkelo, professor at the Norwegian Police University College and Oslo New University College, head of the project, and the Norwegian part, points out that international research shows the same pattern.
“If you ask whether people have experienced sexual harassment, the figures are lower than if you ask about specific occurrences. Many say that something was unwanted without describing it as sexual harassment,” she says.
This does not necessarily mean the problem is smaller. On the contrary, employees may report serious incidents while simultaneously not identifying with the actual term.
Large differences between groups
Previous Norwegian studies show that women are more exposed than men and that younger women in the police are particularly vulnerable. The research also shows that sexual minorities face a significantly higher risk of being exposed to harassment.
A study published in the Journal of Business and Psychology showed that nearly one in five employees in the police had experienced sexual harassment. The study’s authors were Brita Bjørkelo from the Norwegian Police University College and professor Hege Høivik Bye from the University of Bergen.
The most common form of harassment was not physical abuse but sexualised comments, jokes, unwanted remarks about people’s bodies, the sharing of images and sexual rumours.
The most exposed group was lesbian and bisexual women. Nearly half of them reported at least one unwanted incident over a six-month period. Gay and bisexual men also reported more frequent harassment than heterosexual men.
Humour or harassment?
Researchers in Sweden have seen how difficult it can be to draw a line between workplace banter and sexual harassment.
Silje Lundgren, associate professor at the University of Linköping says many employees first say no when asked whether they have experienced harassment. But when the researchers describe concrete situations like sexualised jokes or comments, many recognise them from experiences in their own working environment.
“When they hear the word harassment, many think about a crime or something very serious. They don’t necessarily think about daily comments or jokes between colleagues,” says Lundgren.
She therefore believes statistics and research material must be interpreted in light of how the questions have been formulated.
Loyalty can make reporting harder
The researchers also think that police professional culture influences how employees respond to sexual harassment.
Police employees are used to meeting victims and criminals at work. It can therefore be hard both to see yourself as a victim and to recognise that a colleague might be the person behind the harassment.
There are also strong norms surrounding loyalty to colleagues. Fear of reprisals, a desire to protect the workplace community or reluctance to initiate a formal reporting procedure mean that many choose not to speak up.
The researchers therefore warn against using the number of reports as a measurement for how big the problem is.
“More reports might actually be a sign that the working environment has improved, because employees feel it is safe to speak up,” says Lundgren.
Studies they have carried out in Sweden also show that sexual harassment is often explained away as a problem linked to a few “rotten apples” or the older generation.
The researchers argue that framing the issue in individual terms in this way makes it harder to discuss the organisational factors that allow harassment to occur.
From reporting to joint responsibility
The researchers from the Nordic project believe traditional efforts to fight sexual harassment often puts too much responsibility on the victim. Instead, they, Due to research pointing towards the importance of engaging bystanders and the alleged harassers, they suggest ways to make the entire working environment part of the solution.
One key measure is to strengthen what the researchers call the role of the bystander; colleagues and leaders who are witnessing incidents. The aim is to make early intervention easier, before situations develop or become normalised.
“The workplace is a community we all share. Everybody should contribute to secure a good working environment, rather than expecting the victim to step forward and carry the whole responsibility alone,” says Brita Bjørkelo.
The Norwegian part of the project is built on the Danish “Intervene-SH” intervention and applies the police’s own work environment surveys. The researchers develop realistic scenarios which employees can discuss in groups.
The participants are asked to think about which roles they might take on themselves in a given situation as a bystander and which consequences different actions might have for the harassed, the harasser and the bystander. The implementation of “Intervene-SH Police version” is planned from 2026 and results will be evaluated. The free of charge material will be made public available.
Learning from role-play
In Iceland, the researchers have developed a training programme together with police students and instructors. Using role-play, scenario-based exercises and discussions, the students practice how to handle situations they might face in working life.
The evaluation shows that participants reflected more on their own attitudes and became more aware of what sexual harassment can involve. At the same time, the researchers point out that some participants, particularly men, expressed resistance to the subject, which they say underlines the need for a long-term approach.
A handbook and a training tool will be produced to be part of police training.
Results from the research are used to develop concrete exercises for leaders and working groups in Sweden too.
The researchers believe these methods work better than ordinary lectures or simply going through the rules.
Police officers are already accustomed to scenario-based training through their education and operational work. This makes it easier to address challenging issues when they are presented through realistic situations rather than abstract rules.
At the same time, these exercises are built on values that are already strong in the police force: loyalty, solidarity and taking responsibility for colleagues.
Resistance must be taken seriously
The researchers underline that the measures are not always welcomed with enthusiasm. Previous projects have unveiled a degree of “fatigue”. Some believe there has already been enough attention paid to sexual harassment.
Bjørkelo disagrees.
“Just like the police perform fire drills and practice IT security, the efforts around working environments and sexual harassment must be kept alive. This is not something that disappears by itself,” she says.
The Swedish researchers point out that resistance is a natural part of organisational change. They believe objections such as “people should be allowed to joke” or that the issue has been given “too much attention” should be met with dialogue rather than dismissal.
They find that the measures are better received when the organisation sets aside time to discuss dilemmas and makes it clear that the aim is not to ban humour, but to create a safer working environment.
Could other sectors learn from the police?
The researchers say the experiences from the police are relevant for other parts of the labour market too.
Bjørkelo points out that humour is an important part of the culture in many occupations with high stress levels. This can strengthen a sense of community, but humour can also be used in a way that excludes people or normalises unwanted behaviour.
So the efforts are not about removing humour, but to create awareness of when it comes at the expense of wellbeing and health.
Silje Lundgren thinks other workplaces could draw inspiration from the strong sense of collegial loyalty within the police.
“If solidarity is being used to look after the working environment, it becomes a strength rather than a hindrance,” she says.
Nordic added value
The project is organised as a close collaboration between researchers in Norway, Sweden and Iceland. Rather than working separately and bringing their findings together at the end, the researchers are also developing articles and methods jointly.
This has made it easier to create trust between the researchers and the police.
Swedish police leaders have shown great interest in methods developed by the Norwegian police service, for instance, precisely because they are seen as relevant in a Nordic context.
The project has also been presented to the heads of Nordic police education institutions, who want closer collaboration on both the working environment and diversity.
For the researchers in Iceland, the regular meetings during the project period have been important.
“This is a challenging field of research, so it is valuable to be able to discuss challenges and develop solutions together with colleagues in the other Nordic countries,” says assistant professor Finnborg Salome Steinþórsdóttir.
