This was published 5 years ago
Opinion
Sexual harassment regulations still not working for Victorian women
By Kamna Muddagouni & Aimee Cooper
The launch of a national independent inquiry into sexual harassment in the workplace highlights that existing regulations for addressing sexual harassment aren’t working.
Put simply, women are being asked to bear the burden of enforcing the law and this needs to change.
Only one in five victims make an internal complaint about sexual harassment.Credit: Nic Walker
In announcing the inquiry, the Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins recognised that we need to do more to prevent and respond to sexual harassment in Australia. As discrimination lawyers we could not agree more. Our anti-discrimination bodies need new powers to enforce compliance with the law, because the current system relies too heavily on victims to hold perpetrators of sexual harassment to account.
While public discussion about prominent figures in the entertainment industry has undoubtedly brought the issue into the spotlight, at Victoria Legal Aid we hear stories everyday about sexual harassment across all walks of life. This is borne out by statistics; at least one in four women in Australia have experienced sexual harassment at work.
This year is the 40th anniversary of the Equal Opportunity Act – the main law that provides Victorians with legal rights to be free from discrimination and sexual harassment. Under the act, Victorians can bring complaints about discrimination and sexual harassment they have faced and seek justice.
Using the act we help our clients to obtain compensation and compel their employers to train staff or change policies to make it less likely discrimination or harassment will happen again. Using the law in this way makes it a meaningful tool for change and we are heartened to see its positive impact on the lives of our clients. We’ve seen the raw emotions and sense of empowerment clients can feel as they stand up to their harasser or employer and hold them to account.
But we know most victims of sexual harassment never make contact with us, or any legal service. Figures from the Australian Human Rights Commission show only one in five victims make an internal complaint about sexual harassment and only one in 100 take legal action. So despite 40 years of protection, the law is not stopping this harmful unlawful behaviour from occurring in the first place and very rarely imposes consequences when it does.
One of the key reasons for this is that there is no one to police our sexual harassment laws and ensure compliance. Instead the burden of upholding the law is placed on the victims. Many people are not able to bring complaints themselves for a variety of reasons including their mental health. We have seen many clients who have been profoundly affected by sexual harassment decide not to take any further action because of the emotional toll of legal action.
Take for example our client Alice* whose co-worker regularly made sexual comments to her, including“I’d like to tie you up and whip you”, and asked male customers such questions as “Are her boobs the same size as your girlfriend’s boobs?” Despite seeing this offensive and illegal behaviour take place, Alice’s manager would not take action against the harasser and co-workers were unwilling to support Alice’s complaints because they were worried they would be victimised for doing so. As a result of the harassment, Alice was diagnosed with depression and she ended her relationship with her boyfriend because she developed a distrust of men. Alice did not have the emotional resources or social supports needed to go to court and fight her employer, so she settled her claim for a small payout, rather than taking the case further. There were no consequences for her harasser.
Stories like this show us that despite good legal protections in theory, the burden of upholding the law is placed on victims who are often too traumatised by their experiences to pursue complaints. If we are to take these issues seriously as a community, it is essential that organisations such as the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission and the Australian Human Rights Commission are given greater enforcement powers to ensure that our existing laws are complied with. It is not enough to leave it up to vulnerable clients who have been harassed or discriminated against to seek outcomes. These organisations that are responsible for handling complaints should also be funded and given responsibility to investigate potential unlawful behaviour and hold offenders accountable.
If these changes were made there could be justice for clients like Alice who are being failed by the system.
Right now, we know too many women are unsafe at work and don’t have faith in the systems that are supposed to protect them. We hope this inquiry will lead to a strengthening of those systems.
*Not her real name.
Kamna Muddagouni and Aimee Cooper are lawyers in the Equality Law Program at Victoria Legal Aid.