Female public sector workers in Victoria are 50 per cent more likely to say they have experienced sexual harassment than their male counterparts, a new report has revealed.
The Commission for Gender Equality in the Public Service released the report on Monday — the first mandatory gender equity audit of its kind.
The report found that during the first year of the pandemic, 12 per cent of female respondents working in Victoria’s police and emergency services had been sexually harassed.
Women reported they received sexually suggestive comments or jokes, intrusive questions about their personal life or invasive comments about their physical appearance.
Across the state’s public sectors, including agencies, councils and universities, male-dominated frontline workplaces such as transport, police and emergency services had the highest rates of workplace sexual harassment.
In the transport sector, 14 per cent of women reported experiencing harassment, while across the public sector, 6 per cent of women experienced workplace sexual harassment.
Victoria’s Public Sector Gender Equality Commissioner, Dr Niki Vincent, believes the report will contribute to measuring 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.
“You can’t manage what you don’t measure – and we now have more transparency than ever before to understand the state and nature of gender inequality impacting a large component of Victoria’s workforce.”
“The baseline report shows Victoria’s public sector organisations are performing well in comparison to the private sector in some areas – and while there is still much progress to be made, there is a real appetite for change.”
According to the report, many women who experienced sexual harassment chose to refrain from lodging a formal complaint because they thought the incident was not serious enough, or they feared backlash. In fact, just 4 per cent of women reportedly chose to come forward and make a formal complaint.
One third of public sector organisations did not deliver their sexual harassment complaints data, even though they are required to under the gender-equality legislation, which was introduced in 2020.
The report also found that the sector’s average gender pay gap was 15.6 per cent — higher than the national average of 14.1 per cent. On average, men took home $19,000 more than women across the 2020-21 financial year.
Victoria is the first state or territory to require its 300 public sector employers to analyse gender equality every two years. In the state, public sector employers make up 10% of the workforce — more than 450,000 employees.
Victoria’s women’s minister, Natalie Hutchins, said achieving gender equality would be challenging, but critical.
“To achieve greater gender equality in Victoria, we must all work together to identify and dismantle these structures,” she said.
Treasurer Tim Pallas said his government must “support women in the workforce and failing to do so is not only unfair, it weakens our economy.”
“Research shows equitable workplaces are more productive, have less staff turnover and enjoy higher morale.”