"A woman walking down a street and a bunch of blokes call 'come up here, lovey', that's humiliating and constitutes sexual harassment."
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
That was the top quote from women's officer of the Trades and Labour Council of the ACT, Caz George, reported in The Canberra Times on this day in 1992.
"The final description of sexual harassment is anything that makes you uncomfortable."
Ms George believed that there was a high incidence of sexual harassment in Canberra's workplaces at the time.
"There is a lot of it, women feel ... frustrated that the system doesn't allow something to be done," she told The Canberra Times at the time.
Ms George had produced 500 copies of the Western Australian Trades and Labour Council's Sexual Harassment Handbook, incorporating the relevant ACT legislation, for Canberra unions.
The handbook featured strategies to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, including creating a policy statement, appointing a union official to handle complaints and give advice, and setting up handling procedures for grievances and complaints.
Ms George, who was in charge of sexual harassment awareness education for unions, said she had found that some workers did not always immediately accept that particular types of behaviour were sexual harassment.
"There is resistance from blue-collar and white-collar workers," she said.
"And also from women who say, 'Well, she was wearing a mini-skirt, she asked for it'."