The Government recently committed to legislation for a duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment. It is recognised that sexual harassment is not just about the aberrant behaviour of a few individuals. It is about a culture within workplaces where every day behaviour which violates the dignity of, predominantly, women, is too often treated as acceptable “banter”.

Key findings from our latest report, Tackling Sexual Harassment in the Workplace, shows that:

• At least 40% of women have experienced workplace harassment, and women who are marginalised for other reasons, such as race or disability, face an increased risk and different forms of sexual harassment
• 45% of women in a recent survey reported experiencing harassment online through sexual messages, cyber harassment and sexual calls
• Almost a quarter of women who had been sexually harassed said the harassment had increased or escalated since the start of the pandemic while they were working from home
• Almost seven in ten (68%) disabled women reported being sexually harassed at work, compared to 52% of women in general
• Ethnic minority workers (women and men) reported higher rates (32%) of sexual harassment than white workers (28%) over the last 12 months
• A poll of LGBT workers found that 68% had experienced some form of harassment in the workplace.

Summary of recommendations
There are two components that stand out as being necessary for an effective employer approach to tackling workplace sexual harassment:

1 A strong and demonstrable organisational commitment to tackling sexual harassment
throughout their culture

2 An employee-centred reporting and response process

the full summary of recommendations can be found at page 114 – 118 of the report (link below)

https://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=8eabc7f1-07c0-4d7e-9206-de431524301e