CALDERN Sex Discrimination Hub

Explore resources for culturally and linguistically diverse Emergency responders in Australia that may confront sex discrimination .

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Sexual Harassment in Australia's Emergency Services

                                                                  Background

In the last 5 years, one in 3 Australians (33%) have been sexually harassed at work (41% of women and 26% of men) 2022.11.18_Time for Respect 2022 (Full Report).pdf (humanrights.gov.au). The majority of workplace sexual harassment in Australian workplaces is carried out by men. Half of incidents are repeated and of those, half are ongoing for more than one year. Unfortunately, the proliferation and use of Non-Disclosure Agreements has limited a true assessment of the experience in Australia. The below list is just a small sample of incidents and reviews of some emergency responder areas:

Sex discrimination, sexual harassment and predatory behaviour in South Australia Police

Victoria Police: Sexual harassment horror stories emerge from the VEOHRC | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

Independent Review of Victoria Police | Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission

Six in 10 Australian women of colour experience discrimination at work, survey finds - ABC News

AFP: Report finds harassment and bullying of women is rife within Australian Federal Police | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

Femal firefighter calls out sexual harassment in Victorian fire service (theage.com.au)

Qld to make fire service better for women | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

A ‘culture of retribution’, sex discrimination, harassment and bullying – the undue costs of women working in Ambulance services in Australia (womensagenda.com.au)

New wave: Surf clubs crack down after review finds sexual harassment, bullying rife - InQueensland (inqld.com.au)

Overuse of NDAs in sexual harassment cases in Australian workplaces - The University of Sydney

                                                                 CALD Experience     

   Research by the Australian Institute of Family Studies has indicated that women from CALD backgrounds may be more vulnerable to exploitation—including sexual harassment and assault—and can experience a number of barriers to reporting. These are often complex and intersectional and include, among others: Culturally and linguistically diverse | Respect@Work (respectatwork.gov.au)

  • the amount of time spent in Australia;

  • language proficiency;

  • insecure work or visa status.

  • not understanding their rights or where to go for help;

  • in many cases, actively distrusting government or official complaint channels,

  • and concerns about career progression or place in community.

The respect at work report also asserts that in contrast to the 2018 National Survey findings, the 2018 University of Sydney Women and the Future of Work report found that women born in Asia, and more broadly, women of CALD background, reported experiencing sexual harassment at twice the rate of the surveyed population. Sexual harassment can have a unique manifestation for ‘CALD’ women – for example, where sexual comments made are related to the person’s race, such as implying that people of a certain culture have certain sexual characteristics, which is a consequence of cultural fetishisation and racism.

The low rates of participation in Australian Emergency Services of people from diverse cultural backgrounds is exacerbated by the barriers CALD women confront in the workplace. CALDERN seeks to inform, support, represent and advocate for CALD persons aspiring to such roles and challenge the vileness of sexual harassment and discrimination. To this extent the below resources provide information relevant to each jurisdiction and the avenues of action including a dedicated contact email dignity@caldern.org. CALDERN recommends that you also communicate any concerns regarding discrimination to a source outside of your employer. Any action taken by the employer against your reporting is subject to the provisions of the  FAIR WORK ACT 2009 - SECT 342 Meaning of adverse action (austlii.edu.au)    Protections at work - Fair Work Ombudsman and other provisions of discrimination law.

                                                                                       

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                          Diverse Resources

Under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth), organisations and businesses now have a positive duty to eliminate, as far as possible, the following unlawful behaviour from occurring:  Federal Register of Legislation - Sex Discrimination Act 1984

Discrimination on the grounds of sex in a work context

  • sex-based harassment in connection with work

  • sexual harassment in connection with work

  • conduct creating a workplace environment that is hostile on the grounds of sex

  • related acts of victimisation

Federal Register of Legislation - Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Respect at Work) Act 2022

            A HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT IS :

Section 8A Workplace environment that is hostile for 2 or more reasons

For the purposes of this Act, a workplace environment may be offensive, intimidating or humiliating to a person by reason of:

(a) the sex of the person; or

(b) a characteristic that appertains generally to persons of the sex of the person; or

(c) a characteristic that is generally imputed to persons of the sex of the person;

if it is offensive, intimidating or humiliating by reason of 2 or more matters that include the sex or the characteristic, whether or not the sex or the characteristic is the dominant or substantial reason.

47C Duty to eliminate unlawful sex discrimination etc.

Positive duty

(1) An employer or a person conducting a business or undertaking (the duty holder) must take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate

Sex Discrimination | Australian Human Rights Commission Complaints under the Sex Discrimination Act | Australian Human Rights Commission

Sex Discrimination - HRC (act.gov.au)  Complaints - HRC (act.gov.au)

Sex discrimination (nsw.gov.au)  How to make a complaint (nsw.gov.au)

Discrimination | NT Anti-Discrimination Commission NTG Online Forms - Introduction - NT Anti-Discrimination Commission discrimination report Complaints | NT Anti-Discrimination Commission

QHRC : Sex discrimination  QHRC : Making a complaint

Types of discrimination | Equal Opportunity SA  Making a complaint | Equal Opportunity SA

Equal Opportunity Tasmania : Discrimination  Equal Opportunity Tasmania : Complaints

Sex discrimination | Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission  Make a complaint | Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission

Equal Opportunity Commission (www.wa.gov.au)  Make a discrimination, harassment or victimisation complaint | Western Australian Government (www.wa.gov.au)

                                                         

We provide information on supportive community networks dedicated to combating discrimination in emergency response careers for diverse individuals in Australia.

Contact Us

Reach out for support and resources regarding sex discrimination in the emergency responder sector. Email dignity@caldern.org , call 0432095618 or use the contact form.

'Don't suffer in Silence'