Internationally there has been a major push to get more women to pursue careers in science. According to the New York Times, women currently earn 60 percent of the bachelors degrees in the US, but only 20 percent of the science degrees. Governments and even private companies are spending millions to encourage women to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees.

In the US, the Obama administration has launched the Women in STEM program to try and improve the situation.

“Supporting women STEM students and researchers is not only an essential part of America’s strategy to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world; it is also important to women themselves,” says the website.

A new report out today, however, sheds light on an additional roadblock to encouraging women in science. A survey of 142 men and 516 women with experience in scientific field work reveals that 64 percent of those surveyed have experienced sexual harassment and 20 percent have been victims of sexual assault.

“Our main findings – that women trainees were disproportionately targeted for abuse and felt they had few avenues to report or resolve these problems – suggest that at least some field sites are not safe, nor inclusive. We worry this is at least one mechanism driving women from science,” said anthropology professor Kate Clancy of the University of Illinois, who led the new analysis, in a statement.

The survey and analysis, published in the journal PLOS ONE, found that undergraduate students, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers were the most likely to experience harassment and abuse.

“Over 90 percent of women and 70 percent of men were trainees or employees at the time that they were targeted. Five of the trainees who reported harassment were in high school at the time of the incident,” said the researchers.

Female researchers, who were more likely than men to report incidents, most often experienced harassment or abuse from superiors on the job.

“Previous work by other researchers has shown that being targeted by one’s superior in the workplace has a more severe impact on psychological well-being and job performance than when the perpetrator is a peer. This suggests that women may be even more burdened by the phenomenon of workplace sexual aggression,” said co-author Julienne Rutherford.

Additionally many of the respondents reported that they were unaware of any code of conduct or sexual harassment policy and only 20% knew how to report an incident.

So, how does this impact women pursuing careers in science? The researchers were clear in their opinion on the matter.

“If you are on constant high alert because you have been harassed or you are at a site where you know it happens regularly, it drains your cognitive reserves and makes you less effective at your job. No one can work well under those conditions, and we can’t ask trainees to keep doing so. Field sciences are intellectually impoverished when hostile field sites drive out underrepresented scientists,” said Clancy.

The paper’s authors are hopeful that their research will lead to a broader discussion in scientific and academic circles about how to raise awareness of and improve the situation.