Workplace technology-facilitated sexual harassment: Perpetration, responses and prevention

Abstract

Ever evolving technologies in the workplace create new mediums for sexual harassment, and employers and staff need support on how to prevent and respond to the potential harms.

This project conducted by a team at Monash University led by Associate Professor Asher Flynn, with Professor Anastasia Powell from RMIT University, offers crucial insights to aid Australian employers and policymakers in understanding and combating workplace technology-facilitated sexual harassment (WTFSH) effectively.

The study featured:

20 in-depth interviews with industry stakeholders; a national survey with over 3,300 Australian adults; focus groups with young adults to identify current gaps in WTFSH response mechanisms. The findings underscore the significance of the problem, with 1 in 7 Australian adults surveyed reporting they had engaged in WTFSH.

Results also reflect that gender is a key factor in perpetration. Men were more likely to report they had engaged in WTFSH than women, and male-dominated workplaces were associated with much higher rates of WTFSH than workplaces dominated by women.

Sexist and gender-discriminatory attitudes and the endorsement of sexual harassment myths were two of the strongest predictors of engagement in WTFSH. These results emphasise the critical importance of gender-competent leadership in the workplace.