Astronomy has a bullying and harassment issue: 'Results presented in this report are bleak'

From high above a flat grey expanse, a single silhoutted figure stands in the center, on the bottom half of the image, dozens of other small silhouetted figures face the central one. Their shadows fall downward.

After surveying 661 employees affiliated with astronomy and geophysics professions, the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) has stressed an "urgent" need to address bullying and harassment across the fields. 

In short, 44% of respondents reported suffering in the workplace during the two years preceding the survey, and 65% of those respondents said reported concerns were either "ignored" or that their reports were unsatisfactorily handled. To be clear, the survey was conducted in 2020, and a soft-launch of the data was released in 2021. However, a full-fledged analysis of the results that includes recommendations for how to move forward from the glaring issues, dubbed the Bullying and Harassment Report 2023, was just published on May 17.