More and more, issues affecting women like domestic violence and sexual harassment are being discussed and researched. But what is the public perception of these issues in Utah?
That question is the focus of new research summaries by the Utah Women and Leadership Project (UWLP) done as part of A Bolder Way Forward, which is a seven-year movement to support and improve the lives of women and girls in Utah.
“What we realized is that so many of [our focus areas] didn’t have good data,” said Susan Madsen, founder and director of the UWLP. “And that in order to really even see if we're making progress, we need to understand people's perceptions, even their basic understanding of certain things, their awareness.”
The research
To attain that data, the UWLP conducted a study in the fall that used an 80-question survey to see the public perception and knowledge of various issues affecting Utah women and girls. The study yielded 19 research summaries which began to be published in January.
The summaries published last week were focused on domestic violence, sexual assault and sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination. Questions included whether the respondent thought the given topic was an issue in Utah and if they knew where to find resources to help themselves or a loved one facing these challenges.
While the vast majority of respondents at least somewhat agreed that sexual assault, sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination are an issue (around 85% for each), only about 50% responded similarly for domestic violence.
Demographic trends differed between each topic and question, but women were notably more likely than men to be aware of these issues and their importance.
Perception of local resources
The one place where women answered similarly to men was about local resources for sexual assault, sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination. The research found around 30-40% of respondents felt unsure about where to find resources or support in all three categories.
Trust in those resources was also a big issue. When asked if they trusted most organizations in Utah to appropriately handle a sexual harassment report, 60% of respondents disagreed on some level and only 11% agreed or strongly agreed.
Madsen said some of that may be due to a culture of not believing women when they discuss violence or discrimination done against them.
“If we’re trying to make change, you have to target the change on the right people, and the right way that we’re going to make change,” Madsen said. “If we’re going to focus on telling women, you just go and report — if they can’t trust the organization, then maybe we have to start with the organization and help the organizations understand how they can become more trustworthy so that people can open up.”
Madsen says other issues lie in having too few resources, especially in prevention, and a lack of education about the quality of resources that are already out there.
Looking forward
The UWLP be repeating this study each year of the A Bolder Way Forward project to see how perceptions change. In the meantime, leaders can use this data to adjust goals and next steps for the project.
Madsen says those exact changes haven’t been decided yet, as this research comes at nearly the exact same time as A Bolder Way Forward leaders posting goals for their various areas of focus.
“[It’s] an exciting time, honestly, where we’ve figured out where we need to go,” Madsen said, “now we need to take these data and other pieces of data and actually figure out now what exact behaviors do we need to change? Who do we need to target?”
“This first year, we call it ... building the bridge as we’re walking on it,” Madsen said.
