Women employed in the public sector are becoming increasingly unhappy with the way sexual harassment and assault in the workplace is being managed, according to a survey of almost 3,500 women working for the Commonwealth, ACT and NT governments.
CPSU National Secretary Mellissa Donnelly says the union’s What Women Want survey shows that as an employer, government isn’t listening to women or acting on their concerns about workplace harassment.
“Our members have identified an enormous range of issues that contribute to gender inequity and produce a workplace culture that fails to keep them safe,” Mr Donnelly said.
The survey shows that women are still failing to report sexual harassment, and when they do, they aren’t getting a satisfactory response.
Only a quarter of the women who experienced sexual harassment over the past twelve months reported the incident, and only one in ten of those were happy with the action taken.
It comes after a 2019 CPSU survey of 3,000 public sector workers revealed that 16 per cent had experienced harassment and 19 per cent had witnessed it, however less than 20 per cent reported it.
Lack of training
What Women Want shows that less than one in three women (30 per cent) think complaints regarding sexual harassment are dealt with quickly and appropriately by management, down from 38 per cent in 2019.
More women than previously don’t think there’s adequate training on sexual harassment (41 per cent in 2021 versus 23.5 per cent in 2019) or that complaints regarding sexual harassment are dealt with quickly (24.5 per cent in 2021 versus 9.5 per cent in 2019).,
Nearly twice as many women than a year ago disagree that management places importance on eliminating sexual harassment (30 per cent in 2021 versus 14 per cent in 2019).
“Empowering women to be engaged and involved in every step of the process is the only way to ensure workplaces develop effective systems that address gender equity and stamp out sexual harassment and gendered violence,” Ms Donnelly says.
“As an employer of more than 150,000 Australian public servants, the government can establish best practicve across public sector workplaces, and lead on the issue.”
Underpaid and overworked
Satisfaction with pay has also dropped to 56 per cent in 2021 from 59 per cent in 2019, the survey shows.
A third of women earned less than $80,000, which is less than average full time ordinary earnings for women.
Two thirds were working additional hours and over 40 per cent were working more than five extra hours a week, with less than half fully compensated for their time.
The report says the most common reason for not being properly compensated continues to be that payment or time off is only given in certain circumstances.
“This, combined with an increase in women who say management expects uncompensated extra hours, indicates that the lack of compensation for additional hours is being influenced by discretionary decisions by management,” the report says.
The What Women Want survey found that access to working from home arrangements was the most important emerging issue for women, representing a shift of emphasis away from flexible working arrangements.
More than 80 per cent of respondents said working from home in normal work hours was important or very important, up from 65 per cent in 2019.
The What Women Want survey is based on the responses 3,495 women, of whom 86 per cent worked in the APS, with the rest employed by the ACT and NT governments.
It’s based on data from 2021 and reflects women’s experience of working from home during Covid-19 and a series of high profile sexual harassment cases, the union says.
The CPSU has developed a Framework for Ensuring Safe and Respectful Workplaces based on the Human Rights Commission’s 2020 Respect@Work report and is calling on all federal departments and agencies to sign up and engage with members on implementing it.
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