Government asks sexual harassment victims to suggest new policies to protect employees

‘This survey will help us build a clear picture of who is affected and where,’ says minister for women

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The Government Equalities Office is calling for sexual harassment victims to share their experiences as part of a major new survey.

The survey will go out to 12,200 people in the hope that it will reflect how prevalent sexual harassment is in workplaces across the UK and what forms it commonly takes.

Questions in the survey will ask respondents to explain where they have experienced harassment and what happened.

Victoria Atkins, minister for women, commented: “Sexual harassment is wrong and survivors must be able to share their stories.

“This survey will help us build a clear picture of who is affected and where. Working together with business, we can stamp it out.”

In 2017, research for the BBC conducted by ComRes found that 40 per cent of women and 18 per cent of men have experienced unwanted sexual behaviour at work at some stage in their careers.

The new survey is part of the government’s commitment to tackling sexual harassment at work, which it announced in December 2018.

As part of the plans, the Equality and Human Rights Commission will publish a new statutory Code of Practice, which advises employers on how to make their workplaces safe from sexual harassment.

The government also conducted a consultation last year asking for views on how to strengthen and clarify laws that would protect people against harassment in the Eqaulity Act 2010. Almost 5,000 people responded to the consultation, which ended in October.

When the government announced its commitment to stamping out sexual harassment, business minister Kelly Tolhurst said:

“It continues to disappoint me that in this day and age some women still face discrimination and harassment at work.

“One part of this is the minority of cases where non-disclosure agreements are used unethically, and employees may not be aware of their protections and rights. We will be consulting on these.”