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An attitude that shows disrespect
Author: By Elizabeth Broderick, Sex Discrimination Commissioner and Commissioner responsible for Age Discrimination
Published in The National Times, Thursday 7 April, 2011
A young armed forces cadet, unbeknown to a female cadet, sets up a webcam to secretly film them when they are having sex. If that is not bad enough, he Skypes it to a group of his mates who are watching in an adjoining room. This was the unfortunate, sickening scenario that made headlines yesterday.
It is not an isolated incident. You may recall the events on HMAS Success, after which an independent inquiry highlighted a culture of predatory sexual behaviour and tribalism aboard a Defence Force vessel.
And there have been others.
Why is this sort of behaviour taking place in the Defence Force and why does it seem difficult to stamp it out?
As one of the advisers on women's issues to the Australian Defence Force, I have some insight into the action being taken by it to address these issues. There is a strong commitment to change.
We are talking about an organisation that is one of the largest employers in Australia. It has a workforce of about 75,000 people, 86 per cent of whom are men.
Even to a casual observer, this represents a profound gender imbalance.
Research has found workplaces and communities that are heavily male conform to masculine norms that are emphasised to varying degrees.
Men should always ''be a winner''. Men should be ''tough'' both physically and emotionally. Men should never be seen to be in any way feminine or acknowledge their ''feminine side''. They should be ''a man's man'' - one of the boys.
Often, we are also talking about male-dominated industries in remote locations - a ship at sea for months, an oil rig or a fly-in-fly-out mine. These are often characterised by isolation, not only from the wider community, but from members of the opposite sex, and for long periods.
They are not the types of environments in which healthy, respectful attitudes towards women are likely to thrive.
Consider mining. Not long ago I spoke to a group of women in a remote Australian mining settlement. One of them, who had worked there for three years, told me that a parade of men would come knocking on her door at night saying things like ''Are you feeling a bit lonely?'' or ''Don't you think it's my turn tonight?'' She said she had to ''wear a sack'' so as not to reveal her body, and talk only to the people she felt were ''safe''. She was constantly thinking about her gender.
Investment banking is another large and heavily male domain, particularly at senior levels. Although these men are not isolated from the community or women for long periods, their workplace and business interactions are largely absent of women.
I recall a consultation I had with a group of investment bankers about attracting more women. The youngest male participant yelled out: ''Come on - what you blokes aren't saying, but what we all know, is that men make the rules, men make the money, she stays home and cooks his dinner.''
This is the sort of prevailing attitude to women we often find in situations with overt gender imbalances.
The Australian Defence Force is aware of this issue. In fact, in the current situation, it is hard not to recognise that it has acted quickly and decisively.
As an organisation, it recognises that deep cultural change is required if negative attitudes towards women are to change.
Together with others, I have worked with Defence to develop an approach that includes commitment to increasing the enlistment and retention of women and making commanders accountable in this regard. It wants to build a workplace that accommodates career flexibility and difference and encourages career management practices that better accommodate women. It wants to secure an organisational culture that is free from sexual harassment and gender-based bullying.
This is not simple for any organisation, let alone one of its size. And it will take time.
But it is not enough simply to have senior leadership determined to stamp it out. Middle management needs to be engaged and committed. As is the case with many organisations, the main cultural barrier in Defence is a deep-rooted and ingrained institutional bias that makes it difficult for women. These male middle managers make the decisions about who gets hired and who gets promoted. More often than not, they do so in their own image.
Until they recognise that strong effective leadership has both a male and a female face, the desired change will be difficult to achieve.
The young girl at the centre of this current controversy is in a vulnerable place. Although she is new to Defence, what has happened to her is symbolic of the cultural problems that the many decent men and women are trying to fix. I doubt many mothers are looking at this and actively encouraging their daughters to consider a military career.
I urge Defence to accelerate its cultural reforms. Without more women, without an ironclad commitment to respect for women, these unsavoury incidents will continue.
Elizabeth Broderick is the federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner and an adviser on women's issues to the Australian Chief of the Defence Force.
