sexual harrasment in the work place
Sexual Harassment in the workplace
Since the beginning of time sexual harassment in the workplace has been present. In the beginning, complaints of sexual harassment were looked at as insignificant complaints about incompatible working relationships as a result of men and woman working together, and it wasn’t of concern of the employers responsibility. After America accepted sexual harassment as a form of sex discrimination in the 1970s, Australia was also deeply influenced by this decision and in the late 1980s, Australian courts drew a connection between unwanted sexual advances and sex discrimination. When the sex discrimination act of 1984 came into effect, sexual harassment was considered to be a legally recognized form of sex discrimination.
Despite sexual harassment being unlawful for more than 28 years, it is still a persistent problem in Australian workplaces. In 2012, the Australian Human Rights Commission conducted a national telephone survey under the name of working without fear, which outlines the findings of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s latest survey on the prevalence, nature and reporting of sexual harassment in Australian workplaces. This was the third study conducted and most recent one in relevance to sexual harassment. The survey showed that 21% of individuals over the age of 15 experienced sexual harassment in the workplace in the last 5 years. Sexual harassment targets a broad range of individuals across a large spectrum of vacancies and industries. The 2012 National Survey shows that the main targets of sexual harassment are most likely to be women and less than 40 years of age. Similar to past surveys, the 2012 National Survey reveals that the harassers are most likely to be male co-workers, and women were five times more likely than men to have been harassed by an employer. Men harassing women accounted for 56% of all sexual harassment, while male harassment of same sex accounted for 23% of sexual harassment. The
Since the beginning of time sexual harassment in the workplace has been present. In the beginning, complaints of sexual harassment were looked at as insignificant complaints about incompatible working relationships as a result of men and woman working together, and it wasn’t of concern of the employers responsibility. After America accepted sexual harassment as a form of sex discrimination in the 1970s, Australia was also deeply influenced by this decision and in the late 1980s, Australian courts drew a connection between unwanted sexual advances and sex discrimination. When the sex discrimination act of 1984 came into effect, sexual harassment was considered to be a legally recognized form of sex discrimination.
Despite sexual harassment being unlawful for more than 28 years, it is still a persistent problem in Australian workplaces. In 2012, the Australian Human Rights Commission conducted a national telephone survey under the name of working without fear, which outlines the findings of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s latest survey on the prevalence, nature and reporting of sexual harassment in Australian workplaces. This was the third study conducted and most recent one in relevance to sexual harassment. The survey showed that 21% of individuals over the age of 15 experienced sexual harassment in the workplace in the last 5 years. Sexual harassment targets a broad range of individuals across a large spectrum of vacancies and industries. The 2012 National Survey shows that the main targets of sexual harassment are most likely to be women and less than 40 years of age. Similar to past surveys, the 2012 National Survey reveals that the harassers are most likely to be male co-workers, and women were five times more likely than men to have been harassed by an employer. Men harassing women accounted for 56% of all sexual harassment, while male harassment of same sex accounted for 23% of sexual harassment. The
References: The 2012 national Australian telephone survey http://elaw.murdoch.edu.au/index.php/elawmurdoch/article/viewFile/74/39 https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/sex-discrimination/guides/sexual-harassment http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/sda1984209/s28a.html www.sexualharassmentinaustralia.org