Mixed results in the identification of what constitutes workplace sexual harassment.

While in the survey, there was some recognition of workplace sexual harassment, in the interviews and FGDs, it was clear that women are often uncertain regarding what behaviours fall within the definition of workplace sexual harassment:

• Women were uncertain about definitional boundaries.

• Women consistently talked about feeling unsafe or uncomfortable.

• Women had consistent concerns related to workplace behaviour that would be hard to “prove”.

Women’s identification of behaviour as workplace sexual harassment was often undermined by workplace culture and personnel. Specifically, some women reported that it was inferred migrant or refugee women were misinterpreting behaviour because they did not understand Australian culture and/or were unable to recognise or “take” a joke. The questioning of what was acceptable behaviour was consistently reported throughout this study.

Safe work was the number one priority identified by participants in this study.

Workplace sexual harassment was one part of what can undermine migrant and refugee women’s safety at work.

Having a job was consistently noted as the priority for women.

Women consistently reported that their decisions about seeking help were made based on the need to remain in paid work. Visa conditions remain a major issue for temporary visa holders when making decisions around job security and their safety at work.

• Almost half (46%) of migrant and refugee women who completed the survey had experienced at least one form of sexual harassment in the workplace in the last 5 years in Australia. This most frequently took the form of:

  • indecent phone calls/messages of a sexual nature

  • sexually suggestive comments or jokes

  • intrusive questions about private life or physical appearance

  • staring or leering that was intimidating.

• Most women who experienced workplace sexual harassment described experiences that fell on the “less serious” end of the spectrum, but which happened consistently and impacted women in serious and ongoing ways.

• Women in service, care and hospitality industries regularly experienced sexual harassment in their work life, so this was expected and not out of the ordinary.

• Workplace sexual harassment was consistently experienced alongside exploitative work conditions and/or racial discrimination. This reflects the survey finding that participants who experienced workplace sexual harassment believed that it was motivated by gender and/or sex and race and/or religion.

• Across the survey, interviews and focus groups, it was consistently identified that men were most frequently the harassers.

• The interviews and focus groups reiterated the survey findings that most often perpetrators were either:

  • in senior positions in the workplace (managers); or

  • a client/customer.

• Perpetrators were identified as having both power and entitlement, and this was not exclusively linked to status within the workplace. Some men that shared religious or ethnic backgrounds with migrant or refugee women experiencing harassment in the workplace were described as exercising power and control in ways that may be unseen or not understood by others in the workplace who did not share the same religious or cultural background. Similarly, men from different backgrounds from that of migrant and refugee women, who occupied the same or lesser status in the workplace, could exercise power and entitlement over women.

• Across the survey, FGDs and interviews it was clear that migrant and refugee women consistently told other women (friends, colleagues) informally about behaviours experienced at work.

• Women consistently reported feeling responsible for behaviour directed at them in the workplace.

• Women rarely disclosed workplace sexual harassment at work and/or filed a formal complaint internally or externally, for a range of reasons:

  • Women reported that they were not sure what to do and were concerned about the impact on their employment.

  • Many women had witnessed other complaints result in little or no action.

  • Many women experienced intersecting unsafe workplace behaviours and were not confident these behaviours would be understood or recognised.

  • Some women were threatened or advised not to complain because of the consequences for their careers.

  • Even though they were able to rationalise the challenges that make it difficult to report or pursue formal avenues of complaint, some women also reported feeling guilty for not being able to do so.

• Most often it was observed that either the perpetrator or the complainant was moved around in the organisation. There was a consistent view of no formal action being taken, and of the absence of any formal recognition of the perpetrator’s behaviour as wrongdoing or potentially unlawful.

• Workplace responses were routinely recognised as hidden and lacking transparency. There was no acknowledgement of harm and women who complained bore the impact of the complaint.

• The lack of transparency and accountability around workplace sexual harassment is sustaining it. There was an overwhelming mistrust among all the participants that interventions or reparations would lead to a positive outcome for women.

• For migrants on any temporary visa type, migration status is the major factor influencing their decision-making.

• Recognising the potential and differential impact of reporting for women in relation to their social and familial relationships is critical.

• The possibility that women will be blamed for abusive behaviour perpetrated against them requires careful attention in considering how to redress this, as it is also weaponised by some perpetrators in the workplace.

• Anonymity is critical in reporting. Women want to report but do not want the consequence of identification.