'Australian women are sick of waiting'
Community organisations representing different sectors like health, business, and legal have formed the “Power to Prevent Coalition” and recently called on the federal government to “act now” to prevent sexual harassment at work.
It has been two years since the release of the Respect@Work report, and the coalition seeks the government to “address remaining legislative reforms without further delay.”
During the conclusion of the government’s consultation process last Friday, the coalition formally submitted eight legislative reforms “that can deliver on the Respect@Work plan for safe and gender-equal workplaces” free from sexual harassment.
In a media release, the coalition said its report includes the introduction of “a positive duty” on employers to stop sex discrimination and harassment before it happens, and new powers to be given to the Australian Human Rights Commission to investigate, monitor and enforce compliance.
The coalition also said its report called for the Fair Work Act to be “clarified to expressly prohibit sexual harassment” as defined in the Sex Discrimination Act. It also pushed for the recommendation that sexual harassment survivors should be able to be supported by representative bodies to take legal action.
Another recommendation deals with a situation where multiple people have been sexually harassed. The coalition submitted that organisations “be further empowered to make legal claims on their behalf.”
“The Government has had nearly a decade to act to make workplaces and our community safer for women. They have had the Respect@Work report on their desk for two years. Still, working women are waiting for this government to take the practical steps that will reduce harassment and violence in Australian workplaces,” Australian Council of Trade Union’s (ACTU) president Michele O’Neil said in a media release.
“Women don’t need another committee or report or inquiry. The government knows what it needs to do, and Australian women are sick of waiting,” O’Neil said.
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The coalition also highlighted the “gendered and intersectional nature of workplace sexual harassment” and its “disproportionate impacts” on women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, women of colour, women living with disability, younger and older women, and women facing socioeconomic disadvantage, as well as LGBTIQ+ communities.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are particularly vulnerable to sexual harassment at work given the larger racism and discrimination that exists both at work and in Australian society more generally, and the history of sexual violence that exists towards Indigenous women,” Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research professor Nareen Young said.
“The human resource frameworks around workplace sexual harassment have been failing employees for a long time. The recommendations of Respect@Work are sensible, workable and welcome,” Young said.
According to the coalition, at least one in three Australians have been sexually harassed at work within the past five years.