Sexual harassment of women in the workplace is still disturbingly common in Australia. According to a telephone survey undertaken by the the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2012, women are still the main targets of sexual harassment at work. Whilst a small percentage of men (16%) admitted to having been subjected to some form of sexual harassment, a greater percentage of the women (25%) surveyed admitted that they had been on the receiving end of unwanted sexual attention.
Read more about “what is sexual harassment“.
Sexual harassment spans a wide spectrum of behaviours. At one end of the spectrum are the more obvious behaviours such as direct sexual advances, sexual propositioning and sexual assault. These are considered to be more serious, perhaps because they are more overt and identifiable. At the other end of the spectrum, there are the more subtle behaviours such as leering, unwanted sharing of pornographic material and humiliating remarks. These are no less damaging to the victim and constitute a serious form of emotional abuse. Social media now also provides a disturbing new platform for the perpetrators of these types of behaviour.
Vulnerability of Women in the Workplace
A factor that plays a large role in the dynamic of sexual harassment is the dependence of the victim on the perpetrator. In many cases, the perpetrator is in position of power and the victim is too scared to take action for fear of losing her job. Young women, and those who are divorced or widowed, are particularly vulnerable to this sort of harassment, as are those who are in irregular employment. As a result many women experience high levels of workplace stress which leads to increased absenteeism and low work performance.
Do you feel like you are sexually harassed at your workplace? If you are not sure, take a sexual harassment quiz.
Possible Solutions
It is best for the to first try to address the issue with the person involved. Unfortunately, this is often not a viable solution as many victims are dependent on the perpetrators for their employment. If the victim feels uncomfortable about tackling the matter head-on, a complaint can be submitted to the Australian Human Rights commission, at no cost to the complainant. Other routes that can be followed are for the employee to report the offensive behaviour to their trade union or to engage the services of a solicitor.
Explore alternative means to resolve sexual harassment at the workplace.
