In the lead up to International Women’s Day, a landmark new survey has shone a spotlight on the ‘shocking levels’ of sexual harassment and inequality in the workplace.
As The Sydney Morning Herald reports, the inter-disciplinary report is the first ever to examine the attitudes to work by women in Australia between the ages of 16-40.
The Women and the Future of Work study revealed one in 10 working women said they were experiencing sexual harassment in their current jobs.
The research also found less than a third of all young Australian women believe they are treated equally to men at work.
Just 53 per cent of working women expected to see improvements in the workforce in the next decade.
The national study was based on the results of questionnaires of more than 2100 women and 500 men.
“Something that’s really shocking in our findings is that more than half of all of the women we surveyed think that our workplaces are unequal, and think that men are treated better than they are at work,” co-author Professor Rae Cooper told the ABC.
“In some respects it’s not surprising that women have that view, because we know that women face some really serious gaps and traps in their work and in their careers.”
Of the alarming finding that 10 per cent of female respondents experienced sexual harassment in their jobs, Professor Cooper said: “Physical touching and harassment is certainly alive and well in our workplaces”.
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