<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>331951</docID> <postdate>2024-10-29 08:12:36</postdate> <headline>Men think sexual harassment is improving, women don’t</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-331952" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20190305001388518647-original-resized-e1730149746999.jpg" alt="" width="939" height="627" /></p> <caption>Our Watch CEO Patty Kinnersly says a quarter of bosses did not know sexual harassment was illegal. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Dominic Giannini</strong> in Canberra</span></p> <p><strong>There's a stark difference between male business leaders and female employees in their perceptions about sexual harassment in Australian workplaces.</strong></p> <p>Bosses consistently had greater confidence reports would be made and appropriately addressed compared to employees of all genders, as did men when compared to female colleagues, a recent survey of 500 leaders and 1000 employees found.</p> <p>Two in five bosses and 60 per cent of workers weren't aware of laws requiring companies to take proactive steps to prevent sexual harassment since 2023.</p> <p>"Surprisingly, a quarter of leaders were still not sure that it was illegal, even though it has been for 40 years," Our Watch CEO Patty Kinnersly added.</p> <p>"There's still a lot of work to do for Australian employers to understand that they have a responsibility to prevent workplace sexual harassment before it occurs."</p> <p>Over 70 per cent of male leaders said they had high confidence a colleague felt safe to report sexual harassment, but this dropped to only one-in-two women, the survey commissioned by the violence prevention organisation found.</p> <p>Almost 80 per cent of male bosses said they had a high degree of confidence appropriate action would be taken by employers if a report was made, again compared to about one-in-two female workers.</p> <p>Nearly four million women have experienced workplace sexual harassment in the past five years, which is a much higher rate than men and meant women had a more personalised experience with sexual harassment, Ms Kinnersly said.</p> <p>That accounts for more than 40 per cent of women compared to just over a quarter of men experiencing workplace sexual harassment, according to the Australian Human Rights Commission.</p> <p>"That's quite possibly leading to men not understanding the issue well enough. It probably also reflects the community attitudes towards violence against women," the Our Watch head said.</p> <p>Workplace leaders thought the insidious problem was improving, but that isn't what the data reflected, she said.</p> <p>"We're clearly not where we need to be."</p> <p>Companies that took action to promote gender equality and respect for women, particularly by having more females in senior leadership roles, experienced up to a 20 per cent reduction in sexual harassment, Ms Kinnersly said.</p> <p>"So the workplaces that are taking action are seeing change, which is really positive," she said.</p> </body>