YWCA Canberra has seized on the #MeToo movement to urge the ACT government to reconsider awarding tenders to companies with a history of substantiated sexual harassment claims and breaches of discrimination law.
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Organisation executive director Frances Crimmins added it was a "no-brainer" to wrap requirements of the federal Workplace Gender Equality Act into the ACT government's procurement guidelines and prohibit non-compliant companies from getting the territory's business.
The Act compels non-public sector companies with 100 or more employees to report against a series of gender equality indicators, including whether they have a policy or strategy on responding to sex-based discrimination or sexual harassment.
About 97 per cent of Australian businesses were compliant with the Act in 2016-17. As of June 13, 50 were not, including Bing Lee, EB Games and Wittner Shoes.
Ms Crimmins said the groundswell of the #MeToo movement gave the ACT government incentive to act. She added YWCA Canberra was not calling for trial through social media but that responses to company behaviour should be based on the data provided through existing channels.
“I do think now community expectation just says ‘this is not on’," Ms Crimmins said.
"We would recommend for anybody to reconsider that if there are employers who have a history of substantiated sexual harassment claims and other breaches of discrimination law and are repeat offenders and not doing these things you are supposed to under the Workplace Gender Equality Act - that’s about education, putting policies in place, for leadership - we would probably recommend that you should be precluded from getting large government tenders."
Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins this week announced the Human Rights Commission would launch a world-first inquiry into sexual harassment in the workplace.
A Unions ACT survey of more than 200 Canberra workers released in April found almost one-third of young women had experienced sex-based discrimination at work.
Respondents told Canberra's peak union body that customer abuse - especially sexualised abuse - was common in the hospitality, tourism and retail sectors.
An ACT government spokeswoman pointed to the territory's Women's Plan, which has instructed directorates to "investigate contemporary procurement practices which promote gender equity" and, later, "establish procurement strategies that prioritise contractors with gender equity strategies".
"The ACT government is committed to improving gender equality across the ACT including in workplaces," the spokeswoman said.
"Other work being undertaken to encourage and support organisations to commit to gender equality include developing templates and guidance material for directorates and funded contractors to develop gender equity strategies and reviewing training modules on gender impact statements and unconscious bias."
The ACT Human Rights Commission's most recent annual report showed six sexual harassment complaints were lodged with the body each year in the three years to 2016-17.
The Australian Human Rights Commission received 247 sexual harassment complaints - 24 per cent of complaints made under the Sex Discrimination Act - in the same period.
YWCA Canberra's urgings were published in its Lead the Change report. The organisation also argued the ACT should incentivise and support companies to introduce progressive paid parental leave entitlements that encourage shared care arrangements, build a culture that normalises male employees' uptake and support the development of the bond between mother and child.
