Written submission from Young Women’s Trust (SPP0075)

About Young Women’s Trust

Young Women’s Trust supports and represents women aged 16-30 struggling to live on low or no pay in England and Wales and who are at risk of being trapped in poverty. The charity offers free coaching and personalised advice on job applications, conducts research, runs campaigns and works with young women to advocate for fair financial futures.

Young Women’s Trust welcomes the two inquiries into sexual harassment undertaken by the Committee. We have decided to produce a joint response as there are significant crossover issues. This response does however, where appropriate, highlight where we feel evidence relates to specific contexts, particularly with regard to the approaches that must be taken to tackle sexual harassment in either case.

Background and context

Young Women’s Trust has carried out an annual survey of 4,000 young people for the last two years. Carried out by Populus Data Solutions, these surveys have sought young women’s views on current issues as well seeking to understand their concerns and recent experiences.

The 2017 survey led to a report, Worrying Times, which highlighted sexual harassment facing women in the workplace.[1]  6% of women aged 18-30 said they were treated less well than others by employers or prospective employers after they turned down sexual advances. If that figure were extrapolated, it would represent 300,000 young women. Additionally, three in ten young women said they had experienced sex discrimination when working or looking for work.

This built on the 2016 report, No Country for Young Women which showed that women were twice as likely to feel worried for their personal safety in public than men.[2] 41% of young women and 20% men shared this concern. Whilst this the question did not relate specifically to sexual harassment and abuse, the gender divide and recent increased public awareness of women’s experiences suggests that this is likely to play a significant role.

In preparation for this response, Young Women’s Trust has also conducted a small survey to gather further views and opinions of young women from our advisory panel and young women we work with. Respondents were all young women in England and Wales aged 16-30 with experience of struggling to live on low or no pay. We have had 20 responses to this and quotes from these submissions form a partial basis for the response and quotes included below are taken directly from young women who responded to the survey.

This survey highlighted the broad range of experiences from serious sexual assault to sexualised comments, all of which had significant impacts on the women concerned. It is worth noting here that the lines between work and public spaces are blurred for many women. Of those who had experienced sexual harassment at work, more than half said that the perpetrator was someone unknown to them. Many of these women work in public facing roles such as hospitality and harassment by customers and members of the public seems commonplace. This blurred line between workplaces and public spaces must formulate a part of our response.

In relation to sexual harassment in the workplace, a survey of HR decision makers by YouGov on behalf of Young Women’s Trust in 2017 was instructive, showing significant numbers of employers with recruitment responsibilities were aware of sexual harassment in their workplaces.[3]

The survey showed that:

• One in 14 HR decision-makers (7%) have been aware of formal reports of sexual harassment in their workplace in the last 12 months. This increases to one in ten HR decision-makers (10%) in large organisations.
• One in 12 HR decision-makers (8%) have been aware of sexual harassment in their workplace that has gone unreported in the last 12 months. This increases to one in eight decision-makers (12%) in large organisations.

This highlights the significant scale of sexual harassment that does occur and worryingly the level that remains unreported. We welcome the Committee’s decision to examine this issue. This response draws on the experiences of young women to further understand the scale of the problem both in public places and the workplace and to make recommendations about what can be done both to prevent to sexual harassment and to respond to it when it does occur.

The scale and impact of sexual harassment of women and girls

Who are the perpetrators?

Out of the women who responded to our recent survey, more than three quarters of victims of street harassment or harassment on public transport, in bars and clubs, and in leisure facilities said that the perpetrator was a stranger. National Crime Statistics show that in the case of sexual assault, perpetrators were more often known to the victim.  It is unclear whether the pattern if sexual harassment is different or if the difference is a feature of the experiences of the 20 women we spoke to. 

The findings about sexual harassment in the workplace were more consistent with what we might expect from broader studies. As noted above, although many victims were harassed by customers or clients unknown to them, colleagues and co-workers were almost equally likely to be the perpetrator in those cases.

In some cases senior managers and those in a position of direct power were perpetrators. However, young women also commented that these senior members of staff were frequently complicit through their failure to adequately address their complaints.

Women in insecure employment were particularly likely to report a both a fear of reporting cases of sexual harassment and a negative experience of their complaints being adequately addressed.

-          “Sexual harassment is an issue that affects everyone at some point. [For example] being asked to lift your shirt by a manager when you're on a zero-hour contract and he's in charge of the rota.”

-          “In my old workplace, despite the fact 90% of the staff are female, when a colleague brought a sexual harassment tribunal against her boss, the organization still chose to support him at the tribunal instead of her.” 

-          “I went to my boss about sexual harassment but the management were all men and thought I was making a mountain out of a mole hill - 5 women left the business because of the sexual harassment of one man in the space of 1 year.”

The power dynamics and fear of losing a job or facing negative consequences, including further discrimination and were particularly apparent. These factors suggest a need for a broader strengthening of existing rights and independent, confidential reporting processes to protect victims.

What is the impact of sexual harassment on the lives of women and girls?

The short survey we carried out specifically to inform our response to the committee’s inquiry highlighted a number of different ways in which sexual harassment impacted on victims. This ranged from immediate physical or emotional harm to longer term impacts on victims’ mental health:

-          “The more serious incident (a client at work exposing himself) left me deeply traumatised.”

-          “I was sexually assaulted by a friend that I trusted…it makes me uncomfortable to be around certain lads/men”

-          “The worst experience I had left me with no one to turn to and panic attacks daily for a whole week, crying when I sleep, stressing about the smallest things and triggering my binge eating issues.”

Incidents often led to victims modifying their behaviour in an attempt to avoid sexual harassment and assault. This included avoiding social situations, changing the transport they used and changing the way they dressed:

-          “I stay away from particular areas where there are large number of men. Just be as cautious as possible. It can really feel like nowhere is safe.”

-          “It's made me feel worthless and scared to leave the house on some occasions and it's made me feel uncomfortable about talking to men”

-          “[It] made me extremely uncomfortable and anxious to go back into that situation”

-          “I don’t like to travel on public transport alone, or walk anywhere alone when dark. I have avoided clubs entirely for a few years now as the harassment is not worth the night out for me.”

-          “I'm not comfortable dressing things i used to, because it feels like it causes men to be disrespectful.”

It was also concerning to hear from a number of women who appeared to have accepted sexual harassment as normal, identified circumstances such as the perpetrator being drunk as mitigating factors and in some cases began to blame themselves. Younger women in particular appeared to mention that they felt as though they had to accept such behaviour as normal.:

-          “I think the most terrifying thing is I’m so desensitised to it, it’s almost become an everyday part of life. The effect is the unconscious notions of not understanding this is wrong and feeling like this is all I deserve. It really impacts how I view my own worth and the I can find myself being violent to myself because that’s so normal.”

-          “Being sexually harassed has had different impacts on me throughout my life. At my lowest points, it's been a disgusting form of flattery that I've grabbed with both hands”.

-          “I am always aware when I am pushing my child in the pram that some people think it is normal to shout obscenities because I look young”

Why does sexual harassment of women and girls in public places happen?

There was a strong feeling in responses to our short survey that the lack of consequences for perpetrators was a crucial factor behind sexual harassment. Respondents to the survey universally stated that low conviction rates for sexual harassment and sexual assault increased the likelihood of future incidents. It was felt that inaction sent out the message that sexual harassment was normal or acceptable:

-          “People think that it's acceptable and they can get away with it. It then becomes a socially acceptable norm.”

-          “Women are seen as sex objects and rape culture makes it okay for men to assault and harass women without fear of repercussions.”

-          “This happens because there is a lack of social and legal repercussions”

Other factors were also raised as being critical in creating an environment in which sexual harassment was commonplace. This included media representations of women and the availability of pornography, both of which portrayed women in an over-sexualised manner or as passive/permissive objects. Three quarters of respondents said that mainstream media portrayals of women contributed to the incidence of sexual harassment with a similar number saying the availability of pornography was a factor:

-          “Media representations of women are always about women's looks, what they wear, if they've put on weight, which teaches men to objectify women and women to objectify themselves. In the last few years it seems it has become more socially acceptable to assault or take advantage of women.”

-          “[Porn often] shows a woman saying 'no' and then the man pushes and pushes and then she finally gives in. Some people who watch porn don't realize that no means NO.”

-          “Everywhere we look women are degraded, objectified, sexualised. Every narrative highlights women as the property of men, we are seen to serve at the pleasure of men. It’s not surprising [men] feel they have the right to take what they want.” 

How can negative attitudes and behaviours be changed?

The women responding to our short survey also described ways they felt that the culture of acceptance sexual harassment could be tackled. Almost every respondent suggested that the problem of sexual harassment was exacerbated by men’s failure to recognise certain behaviours as sexual harassment or to understand the impact of sexual harassment on women.

It was also felt that in the context of the workplace, male dominated hierarchies were less likely to take incidents of sexual harassment seriously or recognise it as a problem. In a recent poll of 150 MPs for Young Women’s Trust, while more than half of female MPs had been personally aware of sexual harassment or abuse in Parliament, fewer than one in five male MPs said the same.

This pattern is repeated in workplaces across the country. Female HR decision makers were almost twice as likely as men to say that sexism was a problem in their own workplace- 40% of female bosses and 24% male bosses recognised this as an issue. Far higher numbers - 63% - of HR decision-makers say that sexism in the workplace in general as opposed to their specific workplace including three quarters (76%) of women and half of men (54%).  In many cases these different attitudes lead to incidents not being dealt with or dismissed out-of-hand:

-          I went to my boss about sexual harassment, but the management were all men and thought I was making a mountain out of a mole hill - 5 women left the business because of the sexual harassment of one man in the space of 1 year. He is still working there.

-          Men aren't aware of how it makes women feel

-          [We need to] allow for anonymity in reporting, with full disciplinary procedures. A third party independent body to investigate it.

Respondents to the survey almost universally said that educating men and boys about women’s experiences could help to tackle sexual harassment. Similar numbers called for more to be done to tackle the gender balance in workplaces, particularly at senior levels.

Allowing anonymity of reporting for sexual harassment cases alongside independent, third party procedures for investigating complaints was also seen as a vital part of tackling sexual harassment in the workplace.

Young Women’s Trust recommendations to preventing and respond to the sexual harassment of women and girls

Sexual harassment in public places

Young women made a number of recommendations to tackle sexual harassment in public places.  Many of these can be drawn from the above evidence which is based on the experiences of young women themselves. Young Women’s Trust supports these and hopes that the Committee will choose to incorporate these into its own recommendations.

1. There needs to be a public awareness campaign about sexual harassment, with support to report either as a victim or witness and guidance about how to do so.

2. Education about sexual harassment – including what counts as unacceptable behaviour – and its impact should be incorporated into the school curriculum through Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) and Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) which should be a mandatory part of a school’s responsibilities towards its pupil’s education. This could help to change the behaviour of boys and men whilst also giving confidence to young women to identify and report sexual harassment.

3. There needs to be a renewed focus on improving conviction rates for sexual assault. This will take commitment and cooperation from law enforcement agencies and venues such as bars and clubs in which sexual assault is most likely to occur.

4. The Government should issue guidance to such establishments about how to tackle sexual assault should encourage the publication of sexual harassment and abuse policies that outline the steps they will take to tackle these issues in their establishments.

5. There should be a review of sentencing guidelines to ensure sentencing is effective as a deterrent and as a response to protect the public.

6. Misogyny should be considered a hate crime by all police forces, following the lead of Nottinghamshire Police.

Sexual harassment in the workplace
 

Young Women responding to our survey have outlined a number of proposals to tackle sexual harassment in the workplace. We support these proposals and recommend that:

1. There is a new mandatory duty on employers to take reasonable steps to protect workers from harassment and victimisation. This should include a duty to prevent employees from harassment and victimisation from third parties such as customers or clients of the business. We support the re-introduction of Section 40 of the Equality Act, which did make employers responsible for third party harassment and was removed in 2012

2. Existing employment rights must be enforced and strengthened to improve protections for workers in precarious employment so that low pay or being on a zero hours contract does not impede an employee in bringing forward a report of sexual harassment. This should include extending the time limit from bringing a claim to at tribunal to at least 6 months from the date of the most recent instance of harassment. Additionally, the respondent must bear the burden of proof to establish why an extension must not be allowed for claims brought outside of this period and the power to make wider recommendations should be once again conferred on the Employment Tribunal.

3. The Government set out a new code of practice for employers specifying steps employers should take to tackle sexual harassment. This should include guidance on developing confidential and independent procedures for reporting and investigating allegations of sexual harassment.

4. We are very concerned about the possible use of Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) being used to prevent the reporting of sexual harassment. We would urge the Government to examine how NDAs are being used and ensure that women who are considering signing an NDA are able to access advice and support on the possible future impact of doing so, including on their legal rights and mental health.

5. Action should be taken to address the gender balance in workplaces and tackle occupational segregation, including at levels of employment.

March 2018