These Stories About Sexual Harassment At Work Are Harrowing

Whether you’ve experienced it yourself, or read one of the many accounts of sexual harassment under the MeToo hashtag, we’re all very aware that sexual harassment at workis widespread. Now, a report has been completed by the Equality and Human Rights Commission into exactly that, and theexperiences shared by women are harrowing to say the least.

Aiming to ‘draw on a wide range of experience to support practical solutions’, the EHRC asked for evidence of sexual harassment at from an online survey, receiving 750 responses of people who had either experienced it themselves or witnessed it.

From women being told that sexual harassment from customers ‘was part of the job’, to others being ‘repeatedly harassed by a male customer,’ and ‘told to just deal with it’ there were a wide-range of reports. One particularly harrowing story was the harassment of a 17-year old girl who locked herself in the toilet because men in the office were joking about raping her.

Rebecca Hilsenrath, CEO of the EHRC, told the BBC:

‘We’re talking about a 17-year-old girl locked up in a toilet because there are jokes being made about whose being take her virginity because she’s a Christian girl. We’re talking about somebody being pinned up against a wall in a bar with a customer’s hands inside her underwear in full view of everybody’

And when women did report these vile incidents, researchers found that around half of the cases saw employers take no action. Many women were dismissed with phrases such as it’s merely ‘a bit of fun’, or ‘laughing it off as boys being boys’. One respondent was told ‘well you know how it is, just stay out of his way’, and another stating ‘we’ve been told nothing can be done for harassment with customers except if we see someone who stalks you, [then] we are allowed to hide out back.’

In many cases, the responses went beyond ignorance and actually blamed the victim for the harassment. One individual stated:

‘I was told it was my own fault for wearing tight clothing. I was actually dressed in a black suit and white shirt.’

Others reported being told things like ‘rein your neck in’ and ‘no one wants to hire a trouble maker. The perpetrators however, would go on to flourish in the companies, with the report stating:

‘The victim endured horrendous cross-examination and was never believed. The perpetrator remained on as a highly paid employee while the victim effectively had to leave an otherwise great career.’

They also received much more support from the company, as one respondent pointed out ‘A partner who was close to the perpetrator said the firm would ensure my career was destroyed if I told anyone else about the incidents.’

And as perpetrators continued to be protected within the company, victim’s lives would be falling apart. One woman said ‘‘I lost my job, my reputation and my health.’

It’s on the basis of these distressing accounts of sexual harassment at work that the EHRC has called upon ministers to tackle the ‘corrosive’ cultures at work. Dubbing the issue ‘normalised’, they have advised that employers should be legally obliged to prevent harassment and victimisation, by strengthening legal protections and promoting transparency.

They have asked the government to introduce a statuary code of practice on sexual harassment and harassment at work, ensure targeted training is developed for managers, staff and workplace sexual harassment ‘champions’. In addition to this, they advise a report should be undertaken every three years collecting data from individuals across England, Scotland and Wales determining the prevalence of sexual harassment at work.

Advising employers to publish a sexual harassment policy and the steps being taken to implement it, they have asked that any policy explicitly addresses obligations under the Equality Act 2010. Another notable recommendation is to void any non-disclosure agreements that some employers use stating:

‘The UK Government should introduce legislation making any contractual clause which prevents disclosure of future acts of discrimination, harassment or victimisation void.

To reduce the barriers in reporting sexual harassment, the report also recommends that the limitation period for harassment claims in employment tribunals should be extended from three months to six months as three months does not give victims ‘sufficient time to recover, consider what has happened to them, make a decision to pursue the claim, seek legal advice and start the legal process.’

In order to ensure employers are improving how they deal with sexual harassment, the report also urges that employment tribunals should have the power to make recommendations to improve the employers practice towards the broad workforce, as currently they can only recommend practices about the employer’s treatment of the individual claimant.

Overall, the report provides great, practical recommendations in improving sexual harassment at work. However, it remains to be seen how the government will respond to the advice. In the mean-time, it does put increasing pressure on employers who are currently mishandling sexual harassment cases.

You can read the full report here.

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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.