‘Sexual Harassment: Serious Business’
Speech by Elizabeth
Broderick
Sex Discrimination Commissioner and
Commissioner responsible for Age
Discrimination
Australian Human Rights Commission
Sexual Harassment Employer Forum
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Melbourne,
Wednesday 12 November 2008
I’d like to begin by acknowledging that we are gathered on the traditional country of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, and I pay my respects to their elders.
Thank you to ACCI for hosting today’s forum. It is excellent that we have employers from many diverse industries represented today. I understand that this Forum has been particularly well received, and that, indeed, we have had to turn employer groups away. For me, that is an extremely positive sign the importance we collectively place on the issue of sexual harassment.
There are two important areas of work I would like to discuss with you this morning.
As many of you are aware, last week, I released the results of our National Telephone Survey on sexual harassment, and I would like to talk further with you about those results this morning. The findings tell us much about how to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.
Secondly, and as importantly, I am very pleased to be launching today our updated guide for employers – a Code of Practice –‘Effectively Preventing and responding to Sexual Harassment’ – together with a Quick Guide - which sets out clear steps for employers to prevent and respond appropriately to sexual harassment in the workplace.
With the start of the party season upon us, this is a time of year when many organisations are planning their end of year celebrations. I am pleased that some organisations – such as those of you in the room - are also thinking about what more you can do to prevent and deal effectively with sexual harassment both in the workplace and at work sponsored functions.
I hope that the work that I will be sharing with you this morning supports your own efforts to deal with sexual harassment. We are certainly looking forward to getting your input and ideas both this morning, and into the future, about how we can work together effectively to drive down the incidence of sexual harassment over time.
Background to the 2008 national telephone survey
Firstly, some background to the national survey, and the resources that I am launching this morning....
When I started in the role as Sex Discrimination Commissioner, I embarked upon a national Listening Tour.
The Tour was designed to find out, as a nation, where we are at in our journey towards gender equality.
I met over one thousand Australians from many different walks of life who shared with me their stories. Many more shared their experiences on my blog.
Unfortunately, stories of sexual harassment were ones I heard all too frequently.
I heard about sexual harassment across industries, across employment types, across ages and across the borders of all states and territories.
It became clear to me that one of the great difficulties with sexual harassment is the silence that engulfs it. Sexual harassment is not an easy topic to discuss – for employees or employers.
So, in deciding where I should focus my efforts in this role, putting sexual harassment back on the nation’s radar became a priority.
As a first step, I thought it was important that we have an accurate picture of the nature and extent of sexual harassment in Australia.
With this vital information, the Commission will be well placed to develop an education strategy to reduce the incidence and impact of sexual harassment.
My predecessor, Pru Goward, conducted the Commission’s first national telephone survey on sexual harassment in 2003.
This was the first research of its kind in Australia, a national population based study on the prevalence of sexual harassment.
Importantly, it set a benchmark for us to measure progress in the area over time.
So, this year, five years on, we have repeated the national survey conducted by Pru. The 2008 national telephone survey has enabled us to not only measure the nature and extent of sexual harassment in Australian workplace, but also to track trends between the 2003 and 2008 surveys.
And the results have certainly been interesting!
Incidence of sexual harassment
The first way in which the survey measured the incidence of sexual harassment was to provide the definition of sexual harassment, based on the Sex Discrimination Act, and then ask people whether they had experienced sexual harassment.
From this questioning, in the 2008 survey, 22% of women and 5% of men reported that they had experienced sexual harassment in the workplace at some time.
This is an encouraging finding because it shows improvement from the 2003 survey which found that 28% of women and 7% of men had experienced sexual harassment in the workplace at some time.
If we look at the incidence specifically for the five year period preceding each telephone survey, in 2003 11% of the population experienced sexual harassment in the workplace in the last five years and this decreased to 4% in 2008.
While this may seem like a significant decrease - and it is statistically significant - we need to keep in mind that the margin of error with this size of sample is still 2.2%, the margin of error needs to be taken into account. And secondly, it is important to remember that 4% of the Australian population still extrapolates to around 569,000 Australians.
So, what are the key findings here?
Firstly, the statistically significant decrease in the level of sexual harassment, particularly in the last five years is heartening.
There are a number of possible explanations. One could be that a greater number of employers have implemented successful training and prevention programs. If this is the case, the results suggest we need to continue this effort.
Examining what is working well in organisations to prevent sexual harassment is also an area the Commission has identified for further research.
But another possible explanation for the decreased incidence could be a lower awareness and understanding of what sexual harassment is.
And this point brings me to the next major finding of the 2008 national telephone survey.
Incidence of specific sexual harassment behaviours
We conducted two waves of telephone interviews for the 2008 survey. The first wave of telephone interviews used almost exactly the same questions as those used for the survey in 2003.
However, reading further literature on survey methodologies to capture the prevalence of sexual harassment revealed that additional questions that probe on the specific behaviours that may amount to sexual harassment, should be included to deliver a more robust prevalence of sexual harassment.
So we conducted a second wave of interviews. This time, when people interviewed told us that they had not experienced ‘sexual harassment’ – as it is defined under the law, we then went on to ask people further questions about whether they had experienced a range of specific behaviours in the workplace in the last five years in a way that was unwelcome.
These behaviours included both physical and non-physical conduct which is likely to be sexual harassment.
The survey found that of those who said they did not experience sexual harassment according to the definition, one in five went on to report experiencing one or more behaviours that may amount to sexual harassment under the law.
For example:
- 5% reported behaviours that included physical harassment such as
unwelcome touching, hugging, cornering or kissing, inappropriate physical
contact, or actual or attempted sexual assault.
- 10% reported being subject to unwelcome sexually suggestive comments
or jokes that made them feel offended.
- 9% reported being subject to intrusive questions about their private
life or physical appearance that made them feel offended.
What this tells us is that there is a clear disconnect between peoples’ perceptions about sexual harassment and their actual experience in the workplace. This echoes strongly with the message I heard consistently on the Listening Tour – many people don’t understand what sexual harassment is and when the line between lawful and unlawful behaviour is crossed.
The key message for employers here is that policies and training need to highlight and focus on the specific behaviours that may amount to sexual harassment as well as the legal definition. Behaviourally based training that improves understanding of what sexual harassment is should become industry standard.
Witnessing sexual harassment
Another indicator of the prevalence of sexual harassment is the level of sexual harassment witnessed in the workplace.
This statistic remained at similar levels between 2003 and 2008, with around one in ten respondents reporting that they witnessed sexual harassment in their workplace in the last five years.
It is positive that the large majority (88%) of those who witnessed sexual harassment took action – either supporting the person who experienced it or making a report to the employer. This suggests that witnesses can play an important role in the workplace in identifying sexual harassment and taking positive action, particularly if the person experiencing it is unsure if what they are experiencing is sexual harassment.
Witnessing sexual harassment also appears to be a common experience amongst those who experience sexual harassment.
The 2008 survey also found that, of those who experienced sexual harassment in the workplace in the last five years, around half observed sexual harassment in the same workplace.
Put simply, if it is happening to you, it is likely to be happening to someone else in the same workplace.
Both these findings are concerning for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, consistently witnessing sexual harassment could be evidence of a workplace culture that tacitly tolerates sexual harassment.
Some literature suggests that the level of tolerance of sexual harassment within an organisation is a predictor of sexual harassment taking place.
Other literature has commented on these cultures impacting upon gender relations in the workplace more broadly, suggesting that a culture that tolerates sexual harassment may adversely affect women’s prospects of progression in the organisation.[1]
This means that in addition to policies and complaints procedures, there must be a strong emphasis on creating workplace cultures that are gender inclusive and where there is no place for sexual harassment. Maureen will be talking us through ‘how’ this can be achieved in a moment.
Types of behaviours
One of the questions I am asked often is whether the nature of sexual harassment has changed over time, particularly with the changing nature of work. One area our survey looks into is the types of behaviours that people experience.
There has been a statistically significant shift in the types of behaviours experienced between 2003 and 2008.
Overall, the majority of sexual harassment experienced in the last five years involved non-physical sexual harassment, which represents an increase from 38% in 2003.
These non physical behaviours include repeated invitations to go out on dates; sexually suggestive comments or jokes; intrusive questions about one’s private life or physical appearance; sexual explicit emails or text messages; sexually explicit pictures or posters; inappropriate advances on email or social networking sites; or requests for sex.
On the other hand, we have seen a statistically significant change in the proportion of physical sexual harassment experienced in the workplace.
In 2003, the majority (62%) of those who experienced sexual harassment in the last five years experienced some type of physical harassment. There has been a statistically significant decrease in this figure to 31% in the 2008 national telephone survey.
These physical behaviours include: unwelcome touching, hugging, cornering or kissing; other inappropriate physical contact; or actual or attempted sexual assault.
The higher proportion of non-physical behaviours, combined with the finding regarding the lack of understanding of sexual harassment, provides further support for including the description of specific behaviours in sexual harassment policies and examples and case studies in training.
Technology was used as a tool for sexual harassment for over one in five respondents who experienced sexual harassment in the workplace in the last five years.
What this tells us is that we need to ensure that the introduction of new technologies in the workplace, such as blackberries and Facebook, is coupled together with solid policies that set out the appropriate use of these technologies. Our Code of Practice for employers provides some guidance in this area so I encourage you to use these in your workplaces.
Gender of harasser and target
The 2008 national telephone survey provided some interesting findings in relation to the gender of the harasser and the person being harassed.
Similar to 2003, the majority of workplace sexual harassment in the last five years involved a male harasser and female target.
Although the overall of incidence of sexual harassment experienced by men decreased, within that group, there has been an increase in the level of sexual harassment involving two males.
Looking at the complaints received by us at the Australian Human Rights Commission, these types of incidents commonly take place in male dominated environments, where the targets are perceived to be different in some way from the dominant group in the work place.
For example, the target of the sexualised comments or other forms of sexual harassment were likely to be men who didn’t fit with the larger workforce – for example the guy who doesn’t like sport, or the guy with a different accent. Again, this raises the particular workplace culture as a context in which sexual harassment occurs.
In 2008, harassment involving a female harasser and male target was reported by 15% of those who experienced sexual harassment in the last five years – a similar finding to 2003.
Relationship of harasser and target
A finding that surprised many people from the 2003 national telephone survey was the significant portion of sexual harassment by co-workers.
The 2008 survey had a similar finding with half the respondents who experienced sexual harassment in the last five years, reporting the harasser as their co-worker. A further one in ten reported a more senior co-worker.
These findings refute the common assumptions that sexual harassment usually involves a manager and employee.
If we also draw upon the finding about the lack of understanding of sexual harassment, this tells us that while there may be greater awareness that sexual harassment between managers and staff is unlawful, there may be an assumption that unwelcome sexual conduct beween co-workers is acceptable.
For employers, this means that policies and training need to clearly stipulate that sexual harassment between employees, regardless of their level or position, may be unlawful.
Employer size and industry
The 2008 national telephone survey indicates that sexual harassment is happening across the full range of employer sizes and industries.
There was a roughly even spread of employer sizes – small, medium and large - amongst those who experienced sexual harassment in the last five years.
Breaking the 2008 results down by industry, the most common industry for those who experienced sexual harassment in the last five years was health and community services, followed by education and then accommodation, cafes and restaurants.
In 2003, retail featured as a top three industry, but in 2008, this figure halved. I should stress that these results should be interpreted with caution as the population sample was not representative by industry.
These results do, however, give us a high level indication of the industries where sexual harassment is more likely to be happening and the information may be useful to the relevant industry groups or unions.
Complaints
The next section of the survey examined if people were taking forward complaints of sexual harassment, and if so, how they were being resolved.
A key finding of the 2003 national telephone survey was that only around one third of respondents who experienced sexual harassment made a formal complaint.
In light of this finding, the 2008 survey included a new question to ask respondents whether they sought any informal advice in relation to sexual harassment.
It is a concerning finding that the number of respondents who made formal complaints decreased significantly from 32% to 16% between 2003 and 2008.
However, the 2008 survey found that one third sought informal assistance or advice, most commonly from their manager or supervisor.
In fact, the majority of those who made formal complaints also sought informal advice, highlighting that seeking informal advice is often a step towards making a formal complaint.
For employers, this means that employees should also be provided clear avenues of informal assistance as well as the option of making a formal complaint about sexual harassment.
Reasons for not reporting
When I asked participants during my Listening Tour why they did not take forward complaints of sexual harassment, a common response was the idea that taking forward a complaint would result in ‘career death’.
One woman said it very nicely when she said that if she took forward a complaint she would have been the victim of making the complaint, rather than the victim of sexual harassment.
When we asked respondents in the 2008 national telephone survey why they did not make a formal complaint there were a range of issues canvassed.
43% said they did not think the behaviour was serious enough. If we tie this in with the finding that there is a lack of understanding of sexual harassment, then it is not difficult to see why people would think this.
Around one in five (21%) reported that they did not make a complaint because of a lack of faith in the complaints process. This included respondents saying that it was easier just to keep quiet; the complaints processes would be embarrassing; the complaint process would be difficult; they thought they would not be believed; they did not think things would change; they did not trust the people they could complain to or didn’t think anything would be done.
Around 29% of respondents took care of the problem themselves, a similar finding to 2003 (26%).
Further, 15% feared a negative impact on themselves including being too scared or frightened; the harasser being too senior; being treated as the wrong-doer; damage to reputation; and the fear that people would think they were over reacting.
Preferred sources of information on sexual harassment
A new question we added in the 2008 survey for all respondents was about preferred sources of information on sexual harassment.
As employers, you may be interested to learn that the most common choice was the internet. There was also a clear preference for information from within workplaces rather than external sources. This means that in a workplace, the intranet is where people may seek information about sexual harassment. So, based on these findings, we encourage you to use these platforms to educate your employees about sexual harassment.
The role of employers
The responsibility to eliminate sexual harassment is a shared one – the Commission, employers, governments, unions, service providers, researchers and individuals – we each play an important role.
And you will see from the recommendations in our report that we have set out a number of areas for further research and government action.
But, arising from our research there are some clear steps that employers can take to effectively prevent and respond to sexual harassment. So it gives me great pleasure to also be launching the updated version of our Code of Practice. The Code of Practice has been reviewed, and now reflects current case law as at 2008 about employers obligations under the SDA in relation to sexual harassment. In addition, we have now also produced a Quick Guide to the Code of Practice – this has been designed particularly for those employers who do not have specialised human resource staff – including small employers. We hope that the Quick Guide will make it easier for busy small business owners to work out what they need to do to ensure that they do not risk sexual harassment in their work place.
I think most of you today are from large employers and we can usefully have a discussion about your own strategies and experience of avoiding sexual harassment becoming a problem in your workplaces:
- Do you provide training that is behaviourally based?
- Does your policy provide specific examples of what sexual harassment is?
- Are there clear avenues, both to lodge formal complaints and seek informal advice?
- Do you have information about sexual harassment readily available to employees?
- If you are a large employer, have you thought about monitoring the level of
sexual harassment in your organisation?
Conclusion
While it is important that we track trends and measure the incidence of sexual harassment through statistical data, it is equally important that we remind ourselves that each number represents a human experience. And for that reason, even one experience of sexual harassment is one too many.
Each number represents a person who has had their human right to live a life free from harassment, discrimination and violence violated. It is likely they will experience high levels of stress and anxiety and the flow on effects to the workplace are serious. For business - lost productivity, staff turnover, decreased staff morale – these are all hidden costs of sexual harassment.[2]
I encourage you all to implement the Commission’s Code of Practice which sets out how to meet your legal obligations under the Sex Discrimination Act as well as setting out the steps to effectively prevent and respond to sexual harassment.
Most importantly, a strong zero tolerance message is needed from managers and leaders at the highest levels to let all employees know that any incidence of sexual harassment will be taken as seriously as the bottom line.
In 2008, we need to ask ourselves the very simple question – what kind of workplaces do we want to create for our daughters, sons and the generations to come?
As Sex Discrimination Commissioner I am constantly reminded that while we can do our work alone, we are never as effective as when we work together. In that spirit, I hope you leave today with a clearer sense of the work that needs to be done to drive down the incidence of sexual harassment and – most importantly - how we can support each other in doing it.
[1] C Burton, Gender Equity in
Australian University Staffing (1997); J Williams et al, ‘Beyond the
‘Chilly Climate’: Eliminating Bias Against Women and Fathers in
Academe’ (2006) Thought and Action p.79.
[2] L Fitzgerald et al, '
Antecedents and consequences of sexual harassment in organizations: A test of an
integrated model' (1997) 82 Journal of Applied Psychology p.578
