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Advocacy
Sexual harassment is a serious, widespread issue in Australian workplaces
Everyone deserves to feel safe and to be treated equally at work.
Workplaces should be safe places for all – free of sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying and violence. Yet, one in three workers have experienced workplace sexual harassment in the last five years. This is far too common.
Sexual harassment occurs in every industry, at every level and in every location. It is Australia’s most widespread health and safety issue. Sexual harassment is driven by outdated gender stereotypes and unfair power imbalances in the workplace, which continue to harm women and all workers.
Sexual harassment comes in many forms including
Reference: Executive Summary Respect@Work Report
According to the Australian Human Right’s Commission’s Time for respect: Fifth national survey on sexual harassment in Australian workplaces, in the last five years, one in three Australians (33%) have been sexually harassed at work (41% of women, 26% of men, and 67% of non-binary people).
Some workers experienced sexual harassment at rates disproportionate to the total population, including young people, LGBTQIA+ people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and people with a disability. Most sexual harassment in workplaces is carried out by men (77%).
The vast majority of people want to do the right thing, and everyone can play an active role in the solution. Workplace sexual harassment is preventable.
Over the past few years, many workers have spoken out about harassment they’ve experienced, and momentum has gained around this issue. Since the groundbreaking Respect@Work Report in 2020 , we have seen important changes such as new positive duty laws.
‘Positive duty’ means organisations and businesses must actively prevent workplace sexual harassment, sex discrimination and other relevant unlawful conduct, rather than responding only after it occurs.
But there is still much to do, to educate communities, change our workplaces and ensure women and all workers can see justice and change in action.
Empowering women and other workers about their rights at work and creating change in South Australian workplaces to reduce sexual harassment has been a central part of the Working Women’s Centre’s vision since our beginning over 45 years ago.
The Working Women’s Centre prioritises responding to sexual harassment across all our organisation’s work – providing legal advice and representation to women who have experienced sexual harassment at work, advocacy and campaigning around issues such as the negative impact of Non-Disclosure Agreements, and our expert workplace education and training.
Let us know whether your workplace has a sexual harassment policy, complete our survey.
Ending the misuse of NDAs
It is difficult to stop sexual harassment if the people who experience it are prevented from talking about it. Employers and their lawyers are routinely silencing and further harming victim-survivors by compelling them to sign NDAs. NDAs can hide systemic problems in workplaces by protecting those responsible.
We believe workers should have a genuine choice not to sign an NDA, instead of NDAs being used as ‘standard’ in sexual harassment matters. The Working Women’s Centre SA is calling on the South Australian Government to restrict and regulate the application of Non-Disclosure Agreements in our state, so that their overuse and misuse in workplace sexual harassment matters is stopped.
Learn more about sexual harassment by reading these case summaries.
These case summaries give an overview of the facts by looking at the conduct and behaviours a complainant has experienced, the findings of the court in relation to the said conduct and lastly the rulings and compensation awarded by the courts.
Please note these cases summaries should not be taken as legal advice.
Read Sexual Harassment case summaries
Webinar
We were joined by a panel of expert speakers to discuss what sexual harassment looks like, the extent of the problem in Australia, and what we can do to end sexual violence and harassment in our places of work and study.
Watch
