- Conference
- 2017 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 7 October 2016
- Decision
- Carried
According to figures published by the TUC, 52 per cent of all women and nearly two thirds of women between the ages of 18 and 24 have experienced sexual harassment at work.
The study, “Still just a bit of banter?”, which was carried out in conjunction with the Everyday Sexism Project, also found that:
• nearly one in three women have been the subject of unwelcome jokes of a sexual nature at work
• more than one in four women have been the subject of comments of a sexual nature about their body or clothes at work
• nearly a quarter of women have experienced unwanted touching
• a fifth of women have experienced unwanted verbal sexual advances at work
• around one in eight women have experienced unwanted sexual touching or attempts to kiss them at work.
In the vast majority of cases (88 per cent), the perpetrator was male, and nearly one in five women reported that the person was their line manager, or someone with direct authority over them.
The survey also found that around four out of five women who said they experienced sexual harassment at work did not tell their employer about what was happening in case it impacted negatively on their relationships at work or their career prospects. Others were just too embarrassed to talk about it or felt they would not be believed or taken seriously.
UNISON has a long and proud record of negotiating harassment and bullying policies, challenging harassment at work and working collaboratively with employers to eradicate harassment in the workplace. When these have failed, UNISON has been effective in pursuing cases to employment tribunals to gain recognition and compensation for our members who have been sexually harassed.
Despite all our efforts, sexual harassment remains an endemic problem within our workplaces.
This conference instructs the national women’s committee to:
1) Support relevant campaigns and awareness raising about the endemic nature of sexual harassment;
2) Work with any relevant organisations to develop further guidance and information on sexual harassment and that encourages and supports women to challenge the inappropriate behaviour
3) Work within UNISON to raise awareness of sexual harassment and to publicise our successes in challenging sexual harassment where appropriate