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Our call on the Govt to protect victim-survivors of sexual harassment at work
We have called on the new Government to start the work of improving protections for victim-survivors of sexual harassment at work now and have set out our top 10 recommendations for meaningful change.
Rights of Women (RoW) provides free specialist frontline legal advice annually to over 3,500 women experiencing VAWG. We run the only dedicated specialist service for women experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace in England and Wales. Over the past five years, we have advised on nearly 2,000 calls and have unique frontline experience of the issues faced by survivors of sexual harassment, sexual violence and domestic abuse in the workplace.
We have called on the Government to:
- Appoint a sex discrimination commissioner
- Extend and clarify the Workers Protection Act (WPA)
- A framework for good practice for prevention for employers
- A health and safety model for prevention of violence against women and girls (VAWG)
- A statutory code of practice for employers
- Effective regulation
- Reform non-disclosure agreements (NDAs)
- Legal aid and financial support for survivors
- Recognise institutional discrimination in law
- Data collection and reporting
It is fundamental that victim/survivor rights are centred in this work and that there is proper consultation and agreement with independent representative groups of survivors to ensure that any measures fully protect survivors and their right to anonymity.