Gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work – An analysis of prevalence and European legal frameworks

<ns3:p>Gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) sits at the intersection of human rights, equality, and occupational safety and health (OSH) laws. Statistical data highlights the high prevalence of workplace violence (WPV) in healthcare, with women, nurses, and those working at emergency departments at a higher risk. Despite international frameworks on this matter, gaps remain in translating standards into national laws and workplace practices, particularly in high-risk sectors such as healthcare. A comprehensive legal and epidemiological search was conducted. Legal sources were identified using the CMS Law-Now platform, with corresponding primary legislation retrieved from official national legal portals and analysed in full. In parallel, epidemiological evidence was collected through a structured search of grey literature, surveillance data, and peer-reviewed studies, drawing on international institutional platforms (World Health Organization, International Labour Organization, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work – EU-OSHA) and PubMed/MEDLINE. Following the analysis, the resulting report was shared with national governmental labour representatives. This paper provides an overview of international, European-level, and national-specific frameworks addressing GBVH, through a legal literature review and a comparative analysis of those national frameworks of the selected European countries: Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. The comparative overview found that while all analysed countries prohibit harassment, their regulatory focuses differ. Ongoing regulatory gaps, particularly regarding technology-facilitated and intersectional forms of GBVH, limit effective implementation and cross-country comparability. Persistent challenges identified include resource constraints in enforcement and insufficient coverage of digital and remote work risks.</ns3:p>

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Publication Details

Journal
Open Research Europe
Published
2026-04-17
DOI
https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.22971.1
Primary Topic
Workplace Violence and Bullying
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work – An analysis of prevalence and European legal frameworks

João Viseu, Leonor Pais, Carina Dantas, Cecilia Fazio et al.
Open Research Europe
Workplace Violence and Bullying
article

Gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work – An analysis of prevalence and European legal frameworks

João Viseu, Leonor Pais, Carina Dantas, Cecilia Fazio, Maria do Rosário Fidalgo, Nuno Rebelo dos Santos, Simona Gaudi, Inés Rey Hidalgo, Pelayo Quirós, Diana Gagliardi, Marco Giustini, Rita Berger, Carla Semedo, Anabela Pereira, Anna Carannante, Héctor Muñiz Sierra, Jan Philipp Czakert, Inês Saavedra, Ana Sofia Menício, Lucija Rojko, Inês Agostinho, Paola Bello, Soraia Oliveira, S M F Lopes, Diogo Cerdeira, Petja Plamberger, Ana C. Vieira, Léon-Paul Schaub Torre, Margarida Farinha, Carla Carvalho, Šefik Salkunić, Natália Machado
article en

Abstract

<ns3:p>Gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) sits at the intersection of human rights, equality, and occupational safety and health (OSH) laws. Statistical data highlights the high prevalence of workplace violence (WPV) in healthcare, with women, nurses, and those working at emergency departments at a higher risk. Despite international frameworks on this matter, gaps remain in translating standards into national laws and workplace practices, particularly in high-risk sectors such as healthcare. A comprehensive legal and epidemiological search was conducted. Legal sources were identified using the CMS Law-Now platform, with corresponding primary legislation retrieved from official national legal portals and analysed in full. In parallel, epidemiological evidence was collected through a structured search of grey literature, surveillance data, and peer-reviewed studies, drawing on international institutional platforms (World Health Organization, International Labour Organization, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work – EU-OSHA) and PubMed/MEDLINE. Following the analysis, the resulting report was shared with national governmental labour representatives. This paper provides an overview of international, European-level, and national-specific frameworks addressing GBVH, through a legal literature review and a comparative analysis of those national frameworks of the selected European countries: Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. The comparative overview found that while all analysed countries prohibit harassment, their regulatory focuses differ. Ongoing regulatory gaps, particularly regarding technology-facilitated and intersectional forms of GBVH, limit effective implementation and cross-country comparability. Persistent challenges identified include resource constraints in enforcement and insufficient coverage of digital and remote work risks.</ns3:p>

Open Research EuropeVol. 6
University of Évora (PT), Istituto Superiore di Sanità (IT), Alma Mater Europaea (SI), Universidade Europeia (PT), Hospitais da Universidade de Coimbra (PT), University of Maribor (SI), Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (PT), Fundación Centro Tecnológico de la Información y la Comunicación (ES), Istituto Nazionale per l'Assicurazione Contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro (IT), Ministry of Health (SI), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Principado de Asturias (ES), Universitat de Barcelona (ES), University of Coimbra (PT)
Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme
Gender equality
Openalex Percentile: Top 11%
Workplace Violence and Bullying
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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