Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment has been unlawful in Australian workplaces since 1984. This means employers have had over 4 decades of investing in policies, awareness raising and training to stop sexual harassment at work. It occurs in every industry, in every location and at every level, in Australian workplaces. 

Yet, sexual harassment remains as prevalent as ever. DCA research has found that almost 1 in 5 (18%) workers continue to experience sexual harassment at work. 1 The Australian Human Rights Commission’s Time for Respect survey also reported: 

  • 77% of Australians aged 15 or older have experienced sexual harassment at some point in their lives (89% of women, and 64% of men). 
  • 1 in 5 people had been sexually harassed at work in the 12 months preceding the survey. 
  • 1 in 3 people had been sexually harassed at work in the 5 years preceding the survey.2

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References

  1. Diversity Council Australia (R D’Almada-Remedios & JC Veres), Index Insights: Sexual Harassment, DCA, Sydney, 2026.
  2. Australian Human Rights Commission, Time for respect: Fifth national survey on sexual harassment in Australian workplaces, AHRC, 2022.
  3. Australian Human Rights Commission, Respect@Work: National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces (2020).
  4. Australian Human Rights Commission, Sexual Harassment (A Code in Practice) What is sexual harassment?
  5. Australian Human Rights Commission, Time for respect: Fifth national survey on sexual harassment in Australian workplaces, AHRC, 2022.
  6. Australian Human Rights Commission, Time for respect: Fifth national survey on sexual harassment in Australian workplaces, AHRC, 2022.
  7. Australian Human Rights Commission, What is the positive duty?, AHRC, 2023.
  8. Deloitte Access Economics, The economic costs of sexual harassment in the workplace: Final report, Deloitte, March 2019.
  9. V Sojo, Overt or covert, sexism at work causes real harm, The Conversation, 10 October 2014.

  10. US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (CR Feldblum & VA Lipnic), Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace, 2016.

  11. K Miner-Rubino and L Cortina, ‘Beyond Targets: Consequences of Vicarious Exposure to Misogyny at Work’, Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 92, no. 5, 2007, pp.1254-1269.
  12. Australian Human Rights Commission, Encourage. Support. Act! - Introduction. AHRC, June 2012.
  13. Diversity Council Australia (R D’Almada-Remedios & JC Veres), Index Insights: Sexual Harassment, DCA, Sydney, 2026.
  14. Diversity Council Australia (R D’Almada-Remedios & JC Veres), Index Insights: Sexual Harassment, DCA, Sydney, 2026.
  15. Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), Using evidence to improve workplace sexual harassment prevention and response, WGEA, 2023.
  16. Diversity Council Australia (R D’Almada-Remedios & JC Veres), Index Insights: Sexual Harassment, DCA, Sydney, 2026.