As Australia's leaders debated strategies to combat our nation's crisis of domestic violence this month, an alarming report from Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety Limited (ANROWS) laid bare an inextricable link that workplace sexual harassment fuels gender inequality and enables other forms of violence against women to continue.
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For women, sexual harassment in the workplace can be one of the most damaging barriers to career success and job satisfaction. It can impair women's economic independence, which is crucial for leaving unsafe living conditions and breaking the cycle of violence.
Since the shift to remote working environments, there has been limited data on the prevalence of technology-facilitated sexual harassment in the workplace until now.
ANROWS is an initiative under Australia's National Plan to reduce violence against women and children, established to build evidence to support ending such violence.
This month, they revealed that a staggering one in seven Australian adults admit to engaging in workplace technology-facilitated sexual harassment. This disturbing statistic highlights how the very tools designed to enhance productivity and connectivity have unleashed a new wave of harassment. The study found that men were more than three times as likely as women to be perpetrators of workplace technology-facilitated sexual harassment, and 45 percent of offenders operating in male-dominated workplaces.
The research exposed that perpetrators are rarely held to account for their behaviour, and many perpetrators minimised the severity of their actions, believing victims would be "okay with it," find it humorous, or even flattered. Working from home has exacerbated this.
Without the scrutiny of the professional office environment and visible managers setting boundaries, it's been allowed to grow insidiously and it must stop. The blatant disregard for the psychological and professional toll of sexual harassment is unacceptable and must be confronted head-on.
Employers can no longer turn a blind eye or rely on plausible deniability. The new positive duty legislation places an explicit obligation on all Australian businesses and organisations - no matter their size or resources, to eliminate sexual harassment and sex discrimination proactively. It's no longer enough to wait for a complaint, this landmark shift in responsibility represents a watershed moment in our nation's ongoing struggle for workplace equality and safety and a critical moment for women.
Employers must update policies explicitly prohibiting technology-facilitated sexual harassment, which many still misunderstand or trivialise as 'just comments or jokes'.
Employers must take measures to prevent and respond to workplace sexual harassment, including technology-facilitated harassment, or face enforcement action by the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Strong and committed leadership, robust policies, and consistent consequences for perpetrators are essential components of an effective prevention strategy. Effective and ongoing education is also critical. Employers must invest in quality training programs for the entire workforce that foster a deep understanding of inappropriate and unlawful conduct, the drivers and impacts, particularly in the digital realm. Only then can we begin to dismantle the insidious attitudes that enable workplace technology-facilitated sexual harassment to persist.
Employers must update policies explicitly prohibiting technology-facilitated sexual harassment, which many still misunderstand or trivialise as "just comments or jokes".
Underreporting remains a significant obstacle, with less than 40 percent of workplace technology-facilitated sexual harassment perpetrators facing formal complaints. There are often various reasons, but the most common is that individuals do not have trust and confidence in the reporting and response mechanisms available in the workplace. Another reason is that they do not believe the employer will take any action against the perpetrator.
The fact you aren't receiving reports of sexual harassment does not mean that it is not occurring. Speaking to your workforce to understand their experiences is crucial. Workers must feel empowered to report harassment, confident their voices will be heard, experiences validated, and perpetrators face consistent and proportionate consequences.
While federal parliament is to be commended for enacting the positive duty to eliminate sexual harassment, adequate resourcing needs to be allocated to raising community awareness of the obligations now on employers and that workplace sexual harassment extends to behaviours via digital technologies.
By wholeheartedly embracing the positive duty, business leaders have an unprecedented opportunity to build truly inclusive, respectful workplaces, enhancing productivity and profitability while contributing to the building blocks needed to help build a society free from violence against women.
For too long, workplace sexual harassment has devastated lives, sabotaged careers, and perpetuated economic and social inequities, enabling other forms of violence against women.
The era of complacency has ended; the imperative to act is now. The enforcement is there. Be part of the change.
- Prabha Nandagopal was a senior legal adviser on the Australian Human Rights Commission Respect@Work report and is the founder of Elevating Consulting Partners.
