12th May 2026
Nearly one in three men in Lithuania who experienced sexual harassment at work would choose to remain silent about it, while one in five would not know how to respond. Women confronted with such behaviour would react more decisively, with the majority saying they would report it to a manager or relevant authorities. These findings were revealed by a representative public opinion survey commissioned by the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson’s Office.
During the survey, respondents were asked whether they would report sexual harassment if they experienced it in their workplace. Among men, 51 per cent answered positively. However, 28 per cent said they would not tell anyone about the experience, while another 21 per cent admitted that they would not know what to do in such a situation.
Women’s responses differed significantly. Seventy per cent of female respondents stated that they would report sexual harassment experienced at work. Only 16 per cent said they would remain silent, while another 14 per cent selected the answer “don’t know / difficult to say”.
According to Mintautė Jurkutė, an expert at the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson’s Office, the survey results reflect a greater stigma among men when it comes to speaking about harassment and other negative experiences or emotions. At the same time, she noted that the findings also mirror real-life experiences, as women encounter sexual harassment considerably more often and are therefore likely to react to such behaviour more actively and decisively.
“Nevertheless, the fact that as many as one third of surveyed women would either not report workplace sexual harassment to anyone or would not know how to respond is concerning. Such silence or uncertainty is often linked to fear of negative consequences, secondary victimisation, or victim blaming. This points to a significant ‘grey area’ and demonstrates that we must devote more attention to the prevention of sexual harassment,” Jurkutė said.
When asked whom they would inform if they experienced sexual harassment at work, both men and women most frequently mentioned a manager (41 per cent) or a designated responsible person within the workplace (38 per cent). Men were significantly less likely than women to discuss such experiences with a colleague or friend.
Commenting on these results, Jurkutė noted a clear gap between public attitudes and actual behaviour. “Our experience shows that only a very small proportion of people report sexual harassment they have experienced. For example, although 25 per cent of surveyed men and 21 per cent of women stated that they would report such incidents to the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson’s Office, in reality we receive only a few complaints of this kind each year,” the expert explained.
According to Eurostat data, one in five women in Lithuania (19.1 per cent) has experienced sexual harassment at work. Results from a 2025 survey conducted by the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson’s Office also showed that 35 per cent of respondents know at least one woman who has experienced sexual harassment in her lifetime, while 10 per cent know at least one man who has had such an experience.
The representative survey of Lithuanian residents was conducted on 13–22 December 2025 by Spinter Research at the request of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson’s Office. A total of 1,012 respondents aged 18 and over participated in the survey.
The survey was carried out as part of the project “VIOLET – Workplaces Free from Sexual Harassment and Violence”. The project is co-funded by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them