Nearly 90% of Latin American Actors Experience Workplace Violence and Harassment, New Study Reveals

Nearly 90 percent of surveyed performers across Latin American countries have experienced harassment and violence in the workplace, a new report shows.

The shocking figures were disclosed in a new survey published Friday by the UNI Global Union's Media, Entertainment & Arts department and the International Federation of Actors (IFA).

According to Hollywood Reporter, the survey found that 89.4 percent of the respondents - representing mostly women and trans or non-binary workers - stated they had experienced violence or harassment in their work environments.

The report, completed in late 2021, was collated from 1,423 people working in the performing arts, audiovisual, and media industries across 16 countries in Latin America, including Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay.

About 53 percent of respondents work in film, 39 percent in theater, and 36 percent in television. The other respondents come from radio, dance, advertising, circus, and puppetry.

The report pointed to a persistent culture of sexism, harassment, discrimination, and violence in Latin American countries' screen and performing arts sectors.

Most Latin American Actors Experience Sexual Harassment At Work

According to Variety, the joint UNI and IFA survey showed that 87 percent of women admitted experiencing violence or harassment in the workplace.

Ninety-five percent of trans and non-binary workers reported the same, while 70 percent of men said they had also experienced violence and harassment at work.

Eighty-one percent of women also said they had encountered "micro machismo" in the workplace, experiencing "entrenched attitudes" of male bosses, with "daily incidents" of normalized macho behavior. Twenty-six percent of men reported the same.

Across the entire region, 37.4 percent of those surveyed said they had been a victim of sexual harassment at work. In Mexico, 54 percent of respondents said they had suffered sexual harassment in workplaces, while 65 percent of workers in the industry in Peru said they were afraid or reluctant to go to work because they had been harassed or someone on their team also experienced a violent situation.

Circus and Puppetry in Latin American Countries Have the Most Incidents of Sexual Harassment

According to the report, circus and puppetry in the region were shown to have the most incidents of sexual harassment.

The survey showed that 50 percent of respondents from those industries reported being victims. Puppetry workers also reported the highest levels of career limitation due to maternity or paternity (39 percent), followed by film workers (34 percent).

The report said women's careers were by far the most affected by parenthood (36 percent) compared to men (19 percent) and trans and non-binary workers (16 percent).

Trans and non-binary people were found to be the most likely to be left out in the workplace, with 73 percent saying that a manager or member of their team had ignored or underestimated them.

Sixty-one percent of women and 41 percent of men also reported being ostracized.

Among the report's recommendations are the need for more education and training, awareness-raising, mediation and containment, and the formation of specialized groups made up of "sensitive and knowledgable professionals" to assist on the set and other performance spaces.

Sonia Santana, president of Sindcine in Brazil and vice president of UNI Media, Entertainment & Arts Americas, said the study gave them the knowledge to understand and confront workplace violence and harassment.

Santana noted that there is a whole macho culture in Latin America that must be combated, and identifying forms of harassment is one way to do it.

Alicia Dogliotti, vice president of FIA, added that violence against Latin American performers takes many forms in the work environment, and the survey is a good tool for such a diagnosis and the creation of essential networks to produce better and more equitable working conditions.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Jess Smith

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