20 June 2018: NOW Australia (www.now.org.au), the non-profit, non-partisan organisation for people across all industries who have been sexually harassed, assaulted or intimidated at work, today welcomed the national inquiry into sexual harassment in Australian workplaces.
NOW Australia was formed to ensure that the #MeToo movement delivers permanent change and NOW Australia Founder Tracey Spicer said reform was desperately needed.
"We know from research including the Australian Human Rights Commission’s surveys that workplace sexual harassment is endemic - this is underscored by the personal stories that women and men are sharing with us. The need for robust research into the reality of sexual harassment and assault is important. Even more important is the need for wholesale cultural change and we are proud to have been in discussions with the Commission regarding the need to establish an inquiry to help promote that change since October last year on this."
NOW Australia acknowledges and applauds that the national inquiry demonstrates global leadership on this issue and looks forward to working with the Commission, Government and other organisations and individuals and bodies to achieve and implement change that makes workplaces safer for all Australians now and in the future.
"Sexual harassment is a symptom of poor workplace culture as well as an indicator of wider discrimination and thus we need to support all efforts to remove from our workplaces," NOW Australia Patron Ann Sherry AO said.
NOW Australia Chair LJ Loch said NOW Australia looks forward to working with the Commission to effect much needed change.
"Expecting a safe workplace, expecting to be able to get to and from work safely is not an unrealistic expectation. It’s something we all deserve, but is not yet something we all enjoy. NOW Australia also acknowledges the many brave women and men whose decision to speak out has paved the way for the establishment of this inquiry."
"With 1 in 2 Australian women and 1 in 4 men subjected to harassment and worse, and with the assaults considerably higher for women of CALD backgrounds and the LGBTQI community, the time for change is now."
The most recent statistics on sexual harassment in the workplace in Australia can be found in a report by the University of Sydney Business School entitled Women and the Future of Work: Report 1 of The Australian Women’s Working Futures Project, published on 6 March 2018. Focusing on a quantitative and qualitative study of Australian working women aged under 40, the report shows one in ten working women (10%) is currently being sexually harassed in the workplace. The qualitative research highlighted women’s experience of sexual harassment as being commonplace and a difficult part of their work environment.
MEDIA CONTACT: Sari-Elle Kraemer 0407 284 457 or [email protected] or LJ Loch 0488 038 555 [email protected]
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