About one-in-eight women working in Victoria’s police and emergency services experienced some form of sexual harassment during the first full year of the pandemic, the first gender equity audit of its kind has revealed.
The results of the audit, published on Monday, found women across the public sector were 50% more likely to say they had experienced sexual harassment than men.
The most common forms of harassment reported were sexually suggestive comments or jokes, intrusive questions about the respondent’s private life or comments about their physical appearance.
Workplace sexual harassment occurred most frequently in male-dominated frontline sectors such as transport, police and emergency services.
The report by the Commission for Gender Equality in the Public Service found that in the 12 months between from 1 July 2020, 12% of female respondents working for police and emergency services experienced sexual harassment. A further 14% of women working in the transport sector also reported such harassment.
The state’s inaugural Public Sector Gender Equality Commissioner, Dr Niki Vincent, said the report would help form a baseline to measure future improvements.
“There is work to be done to better understand and address how other forms of disadvantage and discrimination intersect with gender inequality,” she said in the report.
In 2020, Victoria became the first Australian jurisdiction to require its 300 public sector employers – including agencies, councils and universities – to report on gender equality every two years.
Public sector employers consist of more than 345,000 employees – or 10% of Victoria’s workforce.
The Herald Sun on Monday reported that the state’s ambulance service had come under scrutiny for stalling work to tackle discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying in the service.
Across the public sector, 6% of women and 4% of men experienced workplace sexual harassment.
The report made several recommendations to tackle harassment, including for organisations to collect more in-depth data, including anonymous survey data regarding unreported experiences of harassment.
The report said the lack of formal reporting was a significant problem, with only 4% of women and 3% of men who have experienced sexual harassment lodging a formal complaint due to a belief the incident was not serious enough or out of fear of a backlash.
The report also revealed the average gender pay gap in the Victorian public sector was 15.6%, with men taking home an average of $19,000 more than women.
The pay gap is higher than the national average – 14.1% – but lower than the national private sector pay gap of 22.8%.
An organisation-wide pay gap analysis was recommended to be undertaken to measure the discrepancy between roles of a similar level.
The report also found more than a third of public sector organisations had failed to hand over sexual harassment complaints data, despite being required to under gender-equality legislation introduced in 2020.
The commissioner said organisations need to commit ongoing resources to support the gender equality reporting work, with many delegating the auditing and planning work to women at lower levels employed on a temporary basis.
The Andrews government has committed $3m in funding as part of its response to an independent inquiry into economic equity for women in the state to help support male-dominated workforces, like the energy and manufacturing sector, to up-skill and mentor women.
Victoria’s women’s minister, Natalie Hutchins, said achieving gender equality involved was critical.
“To achieve greater gender equality in Victoria, we must all work together to identify and dismantle these structures,” she said.
