NEW statistics revealing that two in three women and one in three men have been subjected to sexual harassment at work have been deemed “unacceptably high" by a Women's Health Grampians representative.
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The Australian Council of Trade Unions recently released the results of its survey into harassment at work.
The ACTU received responses from 9607 people – 68 per cent of whom were women – across a wide range of sectors including education, public services, mining, finance and hospitality.
Nearly two thirds or 64 per cent of female respondents said they had experienced sexual harassment at a current or former workplace, along with about one in three or 35 per cent of men surveyed.
Women's Health Grampians Wimmera region consultant Melissa Morris said the the results were worrying.
“The survey indicates that 54.8 per cent of those surveyed had experienced sexual harassment at their most recent workplace,” she said.
“This was higher than what the recent Australian Human Rights Commission report on the fourth national survey into sexual harassment in Australian workplaces which found that one in three had experienced sexual harassment at work in the last five years.
“In both the recent ACTU report – 26 per cent – and the Australian Human Rights Commission Report – 17 per cent – quite low levels of people that have experienced sexual harassment at work made a formal complaint.
“Given that sexual harassment at work is against the law, these results are unacceptably high. It’s clear that sexual harassment is an area that we continue to need to work on.
“Workplaces have a key role to play in creating a respectful organisational culture where behaviours that constitute sexual harassment don’t occur, aren’t tolerated and are acted upon.”
How organisations can stand up to sexual harassment:
- Have an appropriate sexual harassment policy
- Train employees on how to identify and deal with sexual harassment
- Put in place an internal procedure for dealing with complaints
- Take action if and when sexual harassment occurs
The most common form of harassment outlined in the survey was crude or offensive behaviour, which was reported by 69 per cent of respondents, while 48 per cent said they had experienced unwanted sexual attention.
Inappropriate touching (35 per cent), explicit texts emails or messages on social media (18 per cent) and sexual coercion (eight per cent) were other common behaviours.
More than half or 58.8 per cent of those who had experienced harassment told someone about their experience, while a staggering two thirds or 66 per cent said they had witnessed sexual harassment at work.
The Communities of Respect and Equality – CoRE – initiative was established by Women’s Health Grampians two years ago. So far 109 organisations from across the Wimmera have signed up to the initiative.
Some of its newest members include West Wimmera Health Service, Wimmera Development Association, Wimmera Southern Mallee LLEN, Noradjuha Quantong Football Netball Club and Grampians DisAbility Advocacy Association.
Ms Morris said there were many other ways businesses and organisations could promote gender equality.
“Aside from the CoRE Alliance and the more detailed Act@Work Program, organisations can look at resources and material available from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency,” she said.
“Undertaking a gender audit is one way that small and large organisations can look throughout all aspects of their business.
“This could include their human resources processes, policies and procedures, and their communications. They can then identify what actions they can undertake to work towards gender equality within their workplace.
“Providing training in relation to gender equality is another important action organisations can undertake.”
To learn more about the ACt@Work program, head to Women’s Health Grampians’ website.
