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This chapter provides an overview of some of the main findings of the national telephone survey on the incidence and nature of sexual harassment. Section 2.2 discusses the incidence rate of the experience of sexual harassment in the community generally, and more particularly the incidence rate of sexual harassment in the workplace experienced in the five years prior to conducting the survey. These findings are then compared to other studies on the incidence of sexual harassment conducted in Australia and overseas.

This Chapter compares the results of HREOC's review of sexual harassment in employment complaints reported in A Bad Business with the findings of the telephone survey on the incidence and nature of sexual harassment in the workplace in relation to:

Almost one in three targets of sexual harassment in Australian workplaces in the last five years formally reported it either to employers or to external agencies, the majority reporting it to their manager, supervisor or employer. Very few targets reported the sexual harassment to external agencies.

Sexual harassment is unlawful under the SDA and complaints of sexual harassment are managed by HREOC under the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 (Cth) ("HREOCA"). This Chapter provides a short overview of the public policy framework which governs sexual harassment and examines some of the implications of the survey results for public policy, particularly in comparison with the findings from A Bad Business.[131]

A telephone survey questionnaire of eight to ten minutes duration was designed by HREOC in collaboration with the Gallup Organization. A copy is attached at Appendix B.

Acknowledgements The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission would like to thank the following people. COMMISSIONER AND EDITOR Pru Goward DIRECTOR, SEX DISCRIMINATION UNIT Sally Moyle AUTHORS Pru Goward Gayle Balding CONTRIBUTORS Sex Discrimination Unit Melissa Stutsel Karen O’Connell Marissa Sandler (to November 2003) Complaints Rocky Clifford Paula Gonzalez Legal Katie Ellinson Library ...

Back to Table of Contents 20 Years on: The Challenges Continue. Download 20 Years On: The Challenges Continue is available for download in PDF format. Click here to download the complete report Click on the links below to access individual chapters: Foreword Executive Summary Key Findings Chapter 1: HREOC's research on sexual harassment Chapter 2: Incidence and experience of sexual harassment ...

Sexual harassment is unwelcome sexual conduct which makes a person feel offended, humiliated and/or intimidated where that reaction is reasonable in the circumstances. Sexual harassment in employment is unlawful under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth).

Sexual harassment is unwelcome sexual conduct which makes a person feel offended, humiliated and/or intimidated where that reaction is reasonable in the circumstances.

HREOC's release of its interim paper, Valuing Parenthood: Options for paid maternity leave sparked an extraordinary community debate about the difficulties of combining work and family responsibilities in modern Australia.

Paid maternity leave is to be provided to women at the time of the birth of a child. The exceptions to this, where payment can be made to a woman's partner, will include: where the mother has died; where the mother is not medically able to care for the child (based on a doctor's opinion); or when the child has bee adopted. (Recommendation 2)

Recommendation 2: That a national scheme of paid leave at the time of birth of a child be provided for women. The exceptions to this, where payment can be made to a woman's partner, should include where the mother has died, where the mother is not medically able to care for the child (based on a doctor's opinion), or where the child has been adopted.

In August 2001, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) began a comprehensive examination of the need or otherwise for a national paid maternity leave scheme in Australia.

The interim paper, Valuing Parenthood: Options for paid maternity leave set out an extensive range of objectives that paid maternity leave could meet. [242] Many of these objectives were dependent on the structure of the scheme that was implemented.