LevyPurdy (2)

8/3/2019 LevyPurdy (2)

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Young Women, Sexual Harassment,

& OHS in a Small Business Context

Nadine Levy and Anne Purdy1

This paper discusses the initial stages of a broader exploration we hope to complete by the end

of the year. The desire to explore the issue of sexual harassment in a small business context

arose from a study we conducted in 2010 in relation to our clients experiences of sexual

harassment at work.2 Our studys findings suggested that sexual harassment involved a clear

power imbalance between harasser and target. This imbalance, we posited, was reinforced

through a range of factors, including age, position, and a perpetrators sense of control.

Moreover, most of the young women workers in our cohort worked for a small business and

were harassed by small business owners, managers and supervisors. We suggested that a

small business context provided perpetrators with the opportunity to orchestrate situations in

which their targets were both mentally and physically vulnerable for example, sexual

harassment in this context often happened behind closed doors, in confined spaces, and away

from the public eye. As well, it was clear that many of our clients felt too scared to complain

about their mistreatment because they had a personal relationship with, and sense of loyalty to,

their boss.

Alarmed by these findings, we began to search for the existence of anti-sexual harassment tools

and resources designed specifically for the small businesses. The result of our search

confirmed what we suspected: a notable lack of such resources. This prompted us to design,

and ultimately receive funding for, a research project exploring the overarching question: what

types of programmes are effective in preventing sexual harassment in small business settings?

Our project design involved a mixture of methods: first, a survey of existing literature on the

1 Nadine Levy and Anne Purdy are employed by the Young Workers Legal Service (YWLS) as IndustrialOfficers. The YWLS is an initiative of SA Unions. It provides advice, support and representation to youngworkers under the age of 30 with employment difficulties. The authors have had extensive experienceadvocating in the Equal Opportunities Commission of South Australia and the Australian Human RightsCommission.

2Anne Purdy and Nadine Levy, Experiences of Sexual Harassment amongst Young Women Workers:

An Exploration of Power and Opportunity (Paper presented at the Our Work, Our Lives 2010 3rd

NationalConference, Darwin, 13 August 2010).


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Young Women, Sexual Harassment, & OHS in a Small Business Context

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effectiveness of certain prevention programmes tailored to small businesses; next, an analysis

and discussion of a number of existing tools which seek to prevent workplace sexual

harassment; and lastly, running a number of focus groups conducted with key stakeholders -

namely women workers, government agencies, business associations, industry groups, and

small business owners. It is hoped that this project will result in set of practical

recommendations that will increase small businesses capacity to deal with sexual harassment

and ultimately act as a sexual harassment deterrent. This paper briefly discusses the first two

stages of this project and suggests some areas requiring further investigation and research.

Why Apply OHS Laws to the Issue of Sexual Harassment

During the course of this project we intend to explore the idea of looking at sexual harassment

through an OHS lens for a number of reasons. Chief among these is the fact that OHS laws,

more so than anti-discrimination laws, adopt a preventative rather than curative approach to

workplace injury. Anti-discrimination laws in Australia prohibit sexual harassment; they do not

prescribe means from preventing it. Prevention of sexual harassment does bear some

relevance to anti-discrimination laws, to the extent that an employer may be sanctioned for

failing to take reasonable steps to avert the risk of sexual harassment. However, whether or

not an employer has taken reasonable steps is only examined, within the anti-discrimination

framework, retrospectively. It is only after an individual has been sexually harassed, and made a

sexual harassment complaint, that the issue of taking reasonable steps becomes enlivened as

a defense to the legal claim. OHS laws may provide a preventative framework. OHS laws are

centered around a risk assessment approach and encourage preventative measures.

An OHS lens may also provide a means to deal with the seriousness of the impact that sexual

harassment has upon the health of those who suffer it. We found that clients who came to us

having experienced sexual harassment had suffered, and often were still suffering, significant

mental and physical ill-health as a direct result of their experiences. Looking at sexual

harassment through an OHS lens has the capacity to place these effects at the fore and to

thereby encourage others to feel empathy for targets of sexual harassment, which might foster a

greater motivation to prevent it from happening.


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Finally, we feel that OHS measures tend to be less stigmatized and more widely understood

than anti-discrimination laws. Workers and their employers understand OHS and may be more

able to discuss it without fear of ill-understood and wide ranging legal implications. We would

like to assist discussions to take place within work environments about sexual harassment so

that employers and workers can move toward the elimination of this type of mistreatment.

OHS and the Special Circumstances of Small Businesses

The literature dealing with OHS in small businesses shows that accidents and fatalities are

more likely to happen in small businesses than in larger ones. Researchers have postulated a

number of reasons for this. Some have suggested that this is connected to the perception, held

by some small business owners, that OHS issues are par for the course and to be expected.3

Accidents have also been connected to the informal nature of the relationship between

employer and worker in a small business. That is, workers in small businesses often have more

of a social relationship with their employer and therefore may be more tolerant of safety

hazards.4 They may also be understanding of their employers financial constraints and

therefore willing to accept a lack of preventative measures.5 Additionally, some studies have

shown that workers and small business owners often see OHS hazards as the responsibility of

the individuals in the workplace, rather than something that needs to be addressed

systematically, from an organizational perspective.6 Coupled with this, there remains a general

lack of knowledge about OHS laws and regulations and their consequences amongst small

business owners.7

Programmes and strategies designed for large companies are rarely suited to the needs and

special circumstances of the small business owner: most programmes involve formal work

systems and the participation of Health and Safety Representatives. A lack of resources,

3MacEachen, E; Kosny, A; Scott-Dixon, K; Breslin, C; Kyle, N; Irvin, E; Manhood, Q, Workplace Health

Understandings and Process in Small Business: A Systematic Review of Qualitative LiteratureJournal ofOccupational Rehabilitation (2010), 20: 180 198, 189.

4Ibid 190.

5Ibid.

6Ibid.

7Ibid 193.


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perceived or otherwise, can restrict small business owners from adopting these types of

measures. That is, a small business owner may believe that they lack the time, money, and staff

needed to meaningfully engage with this type of OHS prevention. A number of studies have

shown that small business owners feel unable to focus on anything but the core function of their

business.8 Moreover, small business owners often lack the management and communication

skills needed to implement policies and preventative programmes.9 The small business owner

may not have received any training as a manager and as such may not see the benefit of

management or risk assessment practices. Another barrier noted in the literature is the fact that

small businesses often lack a good relationship with regulating agencies and, for this reason,

often use consultants for advice regarding OHS regulation.10 This may limit the small business

owners ability to understand the issues relevant to their organisation, as well as to access tools

and resources that may be offered by the regulating agency.

OHS Interventions and Small Businesses

Upon searching for evaluations of OHS interventions, we soon discovered a lack of high quality

evidence in respect to the effectiveness of such interventions.11 However, the limited number of

studies available show that a combination of training, safety audits, and the use of

intermediaries may assist in preventing OHS risks in small businesses.12 One useful suggestion

is:

[L]inking health and safety to economically significant aspects of work in small

businesses in which self interest of small business employers can be

manipulated to improve their health and safety arrangements are regarded as

8Ibid.

9Walters, D; Lamm, F, OHS in Small Organisations: Some Challenges and Ways Forward, Working

Paper 15, July 2003 National Research Centre for OHS Regulation, p 4.

10Ibid, p5.

11See Breslin, F; Kyle, N; Bigelow, P; Irvin, E; Morasseai, S; MacEachen, E; Mahood, Q; Couban, R;

Shannon, H, Amick III, B, Effectiveness of Health and Safety in Small Enterprises: A Systematic Reviewof Quantitative Evaluations of InterventionsJournal of Occupational Rehabilitation(2010) 20:163-179.

12Ibid, 179.


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positive ways to achieve the results so far eluding more traditional approaches to

compliance.13

Additionally, Walters and Lamm suggest the adoption of the following measures:

y that business-start up arrangements involve discussion of health and safety

requirements;

y that training placement organizers require evidence of health and safety arrangements

before placing a trainee in a business;

y that intermediaries, such as legal advisors, accountants, and chambers of commerce

communicate health and safety messages to small businesses.14

Each of these measures requires further consideration and fleshing out. We intend to discuss

their practicality and relevance with focus group participants. In particular, we intend to discuss

what such measures might look like in a practical sense, and what resources would be required

to implement them.

Programmes and Resources Aimed at the Prevention of Sexual Harassment

A number of programmes which seek to prevent sexual harassment already exist, although few

of these are tailored for use in small business contexts. Given what we have learned in the past

about the nature of sexual harassment in small businesses, and what we have learned this year

about implementing effective OHS programmes in small businesses, we have analysed the

strengths and weaknesses of several Australian programmes which aim to prevent sexual

harassment.

We have considered the legislative framework for causing larger employers to implement their

own anti-sexual harassment programmes in Australia, contained by the Equal Opportunity for

Women in the Workplace Act.15 As well, we have examined materials produced by two federal

13Walters, D; Lamm, F, OHS in Small Organisations: Some Challenges and Ways Forward July 2003

National Research Centre for OHS Regulation, p 14.

14Ibid, 15.

15Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999(Cth).


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Government agencies charged with the responsibility of preventing sexual harassment, the

Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) and the Australian Human

Rights Commission (AHRC). Our evaluation of these resources is discussed below.

Employer Workplace Programmes and Self-Evaluation Under the EOWW Act

The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act16 (EOWW Act) imposes an obligation

on particular Australian workplaces to implement an equal opportunity for women in the

workplace programme17 (EOWW Programme) which, broadly, seeks to ensure that:

(a) appropriate action is taken to eliminate all forms of discrimination by the

relevant employer against women in relation to employment matters; and

(b) measures are taken by the relevant employer to contribute to the

achievement of equal opportunity for women in relation to employment

matters.18

The EOWW Act provides seven issues which are deemed to be employment matters.19

Employment matter six is: Arrangements for dealing with sex-based harassment of women in

the workplace.20

Individual employers need not prepare and implement an EOWW Programme

which addresses all seven defined employment matters. Rather, employers are required to

address only those matters which they have self-identified as being priority issues.21

Those workplaces which are covered by the EOWW Act, and therefore required to develop and

implement an EOWW Programme, are employers with 100 or more workers, and higher

16Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999(Cth).

17

Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999(Cth) s 6. See also, Equal Opportunity forWomen in the Workplace Act 1999 (Cth) s 8.

18Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999(Cth) s 3.





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education institutions.22 The provisions of the EOWW Act largely do not extend to workplaces

with less than 100 employees. Thus, application of the Act is significantly limited. This is

particularly so given data which shows that women are more likely than men to be located in

organisations with less than 100 employees and that casual workers, who comprise about one

third of all women workers, are concentrated in small businesses.23 During the formulation of the

EOWW Act, the issue of whether or not to extend the Acts application to employers with fewer

than 100 workers was discussed. This option was, however, dismissed as being too

burdensome to small businesses.24 Whether or not all businesses with less than 100

employees could be regarded as small businesses is debatable.

In addition to designing and implementing EOWW Programmes, tailored to their self-identified

equal opportunity shortcomings, employers covered by the EOWW Act must prepare and

submit a public report relating to its EOWW Programme.25 Such reports are required to be

submitted to the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) of the federal

Government every 12 months.26 In turn, EOWA causes these reports to be published online in a

searchable database which can be found through the Agencys website.27

The public reports prepared by EOWW Act employers may contain a self-evaluation of the

effectiveness of the particular workplaces EOWW Programme.28 However, it need not. If an

employer elects not to include an evaluation of the outcomes of its EOWW Programme, it must

submit a second, confidential report regarding this matter to the EOWA.29

The information in this


23Glenda Strachan and John Burgess, W(h)ither Affirmative Action Legislation in Australia?,Journal of

Interdisciplinary Gender Studies (2000) 5:2 46 62, 46-7.

24Explanatory Memorandum, Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Amendment Bill 1999 (Cth).


26Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999(Cth) s 13A.

27Commonwealth Government of Australia,Online Searchable Database of Reports(2010) Equal

Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency at 21 August 2011.

28Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999(Cth) s 13 (3).

29Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999(Cth) s 13 (3) and 14.


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confidential report is protected from disclosure by the EOWA.30 Thus, employers covered by the

EOWW Act may keep the success or otherwise of their individual EOWW Programme private.

The online database of employer-prepared reports provided by the EOWA can helpfully be

searched by employment matters, states or territory, industry, year of submission, and

workplace size. There are currently 13,369 reports which deal with sex-based harassment

available through the EOWA database.31 To examine all of these reports is beyond the scope of

the present paper, but an initial examination of a small portion of these reports indicates that

their usefulness as sources of information about effective, sexual harassment prevention

programmes, may be somewhat limited.

As mentioned above, employers covered by the EOWW Act are not obligated to implement an

EOWW Programme that deals with all employment matters of relevance to equal opportunity to

women. As such, some employers might omit sexual harassment from their EOWW Programme

altogether and, consequently, also omit the issue from their report to EOWA. An analysis of the

reports contained in EOWAs database indicates that roughly 50% deal with the issue of sexual

harassment to some extent. However, this percentage changes when we look at specific

industries and, in particular, those industries where the incidence of sexual harassment is

highest. To use an example, previous research shows the retail industry is amongst those with

the highest rates of sexual harassment.32 It might therefore be expected that EOWW Act

employers in this industry would report more frequently on issues of sexual harassment than

others. However, this is not the case. In the retail trades, only 39% of EOWW Act employers

reported on issues of sexual harassment in the 12 months between 2009 and 2010, compared

with 54% across all industries.33 In fact, in 2007 2008, EOWA reported that sexual harassment


31Out of a total of 26,575 reports: Commonwealth Government of Australia,Online Searchable Database

of Reports (2010) Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency at 22 August 2011.

32Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission,20 Years On: The Challenges ContinueSexual

Harassment in the Australian Workplace (2004).

33Commonwealth Government of Australia,Online Searchable Database of Reports(2010) Equal

Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency at 23 August 2011.


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was the least addressed issue, after conditions of work, within the retail trades according to

reports submitted to the EOWA.34

The reliance placed on self-identification, resolution, and reporting of issues affecting equal

opportunity for women in the workplace in the EOWW Act is an obvious limitation. Those

employers who face the risk of sexual harassment occurring in their workplaces are perhaps

less likely to be able to identify it. This conclusion is supported by Strachan and Burgess, whose

examination of reports submitted to the EOWAs predecessor, the Affirmative Action Agency,

shows that female dominated industries, like the retail trades, are generally poor reporters who

tend to perceive affirmative action as being less relevant to their business than others. 35

The data available from the EOWA report database is also significantly limited by the fact that

employers may choose to not publicly report their self-evaluations of their EOWW Programmes.

A preliminary inspection of the EOWA database indicates that a significant number of employers

may choose to keep this aspect of their report confidential. Looking again at the retail trades

industry as a case study, Of the 11 reports dealing with sexual harassment submitted to EOWA

by retail trades businesses with less than 200 employees in 2009 - 2010, seven chose to submit

a public evaluation report. Those employers who undertake an evaluation of the effectiveness of

their EOWW Programme and report negative findings are perhaps more likely than others to

make their evaluation public. Conversely, those employers who submit public evaluation reports

have a strong incentive to include positive information within their report, thereby promoting the

success of their business. Among the seven employers referred to above, gritty self-evaluations

were rare, if not absent. Three of the organizations which chose not to make the evaluation part

of their report confidential offered more self-advertisement than serious evaluation. One stated

simply that, [a]ll identified issues from last reporting period have been addressed and

implemented. No evidence in support of this conclusion was referred to, nor indeed required by

the EOWW Act.

34Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency,Industry Vertical: Retail(2009) 17.

35Glenda Strachan and John Burgess, W(h)ither Affirmative Action Legislation in Australia?,Journal of

Interdisciplinary Gender Studies (2000) 5:2 46 62, 52-3.


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The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency Guide forEmployers

In addition to administering the requirements of the EOWW Act, EOWA itself provides a range

of resources for employers in relation to the aim of preventing sexual harassment.36 Primary

amongst these is its guide,Arrangements for Dealing with Sex-Based Harassment37(the EOWA

Guide).

The EOWA Guide provides information intended to assist employers to successfully comply with

the requirements of the EOWW Act. It reflects the Acts requirement that employers go about

analyzing their workplace, before creating an EOWW Programme, and undertake a process of

self-identifying priority issues within their workplace. It should be remembered that the EOWA

Guide is published for an audience comprised of large employers. Nonetheless, the Guide does

not assume that all employers will already have a sexual harassment policy in place.

The EOWA Guide provides a range of questions which employers may ask about their business

in order to begin identifying issues of key importance to their equal opportunity for women

status.38 The EOWA Guide encourages employers to think about their existing policies,

complaints procedures, and methods for monitoring sexual harassment issues in the workplace.

Overall, the EOWA Guide refrains from being prescriptive. However, the ideal of implementing a

sexual harassment policy is put forward, along with the suggestion that such a policy should not

remain on the shelf but be implemented within the business in an active manner.39

The EOWA

Guide encourages the involvement of management in the development of policies and

prevention of sexual harassment.40

The Guide highlights the risks to business of sexual harassment, but does not frame those risks

within legal liability in particular. Rather, the EOWA Guide refers to: the maintenance of

36Commonwealth Government of Australia,EM6 Resources Sex-Based Harassment(2010) Equal

Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency at 23 August 2011.37

Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency,EmploymentMatter Guidelines: Arrangementsfor Dealing with Sex-Based Harassment.

38Ibid 2.

39Ibid 4.

40Ibid 3-4.


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workplace morale, productivity, and trust; worker and business effectiveness; the minimisation

of legal and other costs associated with sexual harassment complaints; and the desire to avoid

brand-damaging publicity.41 At times, the language adopted by the EOWA Guide in attempting

to justify the adoption of measures to address sexual harassment tends toward othering

women. For example:

Keep in mind that women are not a homogenous group but reflect the diversity of

the larger population. By recognising and valuing womens differencesin the

management of workplace issues, your business stands to benefit from the range

of skills and experiences they are able to contribute.42

The EOWA Guide positions sexual harassment within broader species of harassment. It makes

the suggestion that a sexual harassment policy be supplemented with a policy about

harassment generally,43 and refers employers to a case study on harassment.44

Australian Human Rights Commission Code of Practice forEmployers

The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has prepared a resource called Effectively

Preventing and Responding to Sexual Harassment: A Code of Practice forEmployers45 (the

AHRC Code of Practice), along with a sister resource, Effectively preventing and responding to

sexual harassment: A Quick Guide.46

41Ibid 1.

42Ibid 1.

43 Ibid 3.

44Ibid 6.

45Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Effectively preventing and responding to sexual

harassment: A Code of Practice forEmployers (2008).

46Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission,Effectively preventing and responding to sexual

harassment: A Quick Guide (2008).


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The AHRC Code of Practice discusses sexual harassment in the context of the federal Sex

Discrimination Act47 (the Act), which prohibits sexual harassment in employment, and the

Australian Human Rights Commission Act,48 which provides a legal course of redress for those

who experience sexual harassment in employment. The AHRC Code of Practice seeks to define

sexual harassment for employers and to explain where the limits of laws against such conduct

lay. The creation and implementation of workplace policies dealing with the issue of sexual

harassment is strongly recommended by the AHRC Code of Practice. According to the code,

the development and promotion of a written policy which makes it clear that sexual harassment

will not be tolerated under any circumstances is a key aspect of prevention.49 Of particular

relevance to our research, the AHRC Code of Practice includes guidelines specifically targeted

at small businesses,50 and a discussion of how to prevent sexual harassment from occurring.51

In its discussion of the prevention of sexual harassment, the AHRC Code of Practice places

employers legal obligation to take reasonable steps toward the prevention of sexual

harassment at the fore. Its section on prevention is titled, Preventing sexual harassment: All

reasonable steps.52 The section does not position prevention within a moral framework, but

rather talks about the avoidance of legal liability and risk.

The AHRC Code of Practice highlights the fact that larger employers may need to take greater

preventative action than their smaller counterparts in order to fully discharge their legal

obligations.53

That a prior history of sexual harassment, pre-existing gender hostility,

geographical isolation, the requirement that people work in close proximity to one another, or

the presence of live-in arrangements might also be relevant to consideration of how much an

employer should do to prevent sexual harassment is given lesser prominence.54

47Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth).

48Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986(Cth).

49Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission,Effectively preventing and responding to sexual

harassment: A Code of Practice forEmployers (2008) 3.

50Ibid 37.

51Ibid 21.

52Ibid 21.

53Ibid 21.

54Ibid 21.


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The AHRC Code of Practice states that, [t]o prevent sexual harassment an employer should

have a sexual harassment policy, implement it as fully as possible and monitor its

effectiveness,55 but points out that a written policy alone is not sufficient:

The key to preventing sexual harassment is for employers and management to

make it clear to every employee and workplace participant that sexual

harassment is unacceptable in the workplace. This can be done by developing a

clear sexual harassment policy, communicating it to each workplace participant

and making sure that it is understood. In addition, it is important that appropriate

behaviour be modelled by management throughout the workplace.

A written policy on its own is insufficient. A policy that is not implemented

through communication, education and enforcement will be of little or no use in

discharging liability.56

Throughout, the AHRC Code of Practice makes it clear to employers that the creation of a

culture of equality and respect, or positive workplace environment,57 is essential to preventing

sexual harassment. The AHRC Code of Practice gives a high priority to the need to engage high

level management in the creation of such a culture and for managers within the workplace to

model good behavior themselves.58

In addition to the formulation of sexual harassment policies,

the AHRC Code of Practice recommends that employers provide their staff with regular training

and information about sexual harassment.59 The AHRC Code of Practice seeks to assist

employers by offering information on how to formulate a sexual harassment policy and

discussing the essential elements of such a document.60

55Ibid 22.

56Ibid 22.

57Ibid 23.

58Ibid 22-3.

59Ibid 23.

60Ibid 24-7.


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The Codes section for small businesses highlights the fact that even the smallest business is

likely to need a sexual harassment policy in order to discharge the onus of taking all reasonable

steps in law.61 Whereas the AHRC Code of Practice emphasizes elsewhere that, [w]hat is

reasonable for a large corporation may not be reasonable for a small business,62 two quotes

are provided in the section for small businesses which show that Courts have repeatedly said

that the Act does not distinguish between small and large employers.63

Conclusion

The resources which we have examined during the course of our research have strengths as

well as weaknesses in their ability to be adapted to the small business context. The latter

resources, the EOWA Guide and the AHRC Code of Practice, both appeal heavily to employers

sense of self-interest, which the literature on OHS programmes for small businesses suggests

may be an advantage. The EOWA Guide appealed to a range of employer interests, including

their financial interests. The AHRC tended to take an indirect route to appealing to employers

financial self-interest, by talking to employers desire to avoid litigation. This approach may lend

a sense of urgency to the issue of sexual harassment that could compel small business owners

to deal with it, in spite of limits upon their time and other resources. However, taken too far, this

approach to preventing sexual harassment bears the risk of divorcing the issue from its ethical

foundations, as the language sometimes adopted by the EOWA Guide demonstrates. From a

philosophical perspective, we believe that we need to carefully consider whether or not we are

comfortable framing sexual harassment as a financial, rather than feminist, issue.

The EOWW Acts approach of requiring employers to look inwards, and conduct a self-

evaluation of equal opportunity in their workplaces, carries the benefit of allowing employers to

implement preventative actions which suit their particular limitations and individual workers. In

the small business context however, this advantage may be outweighed by the fact that small

businesses, more so than large employers, are unlikely to perceive themselves as having time

to conduct detailed analyses, investigations, programmes, and evaluations. As well, small

61Ibid 37-39.

62Ibid 21.

63Ibid 39.


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businesses, where a number of women are employed as casuals, are less likely to perceive the

importance of equal opportunity for women or the relevance of this issue to their organisation.

Our research in relation to OHS programmes in small business contexts also reveals that small

businesses are unlikely to perceive the need for systemic change. Self-implemented

preventative actions might therefore be more likely to be informal, individual, and therefore less

effective.

Whereas small businesses might not be good self-regulators, our research has also shown that

small businesses are also unlikely to share good relationships with regulators, such as EOWA

and the AHRC. Small business managers are less likely than managers of larger organisations

to seek materials from regulating authorities. The likelihood of small business managers actually

coming across the AHRC Code of Practice or EOWA Guide is perhaps therefore low.

Small business owners typically have less knowledge about OHS laws that apply to them and

the consequences of breaching those laws. We extrapolate that small business owners are also

unlikely to have a great deal of knowledge about sexual harassment laws or sanctions. The

AHRC Code of Practice in particular addresses this issue with its informative content. The

length of the AHRC Code of Practice might discourage some small businesses from reading it in

its entirety, however its division into short sections addresses this potential issue.

Of the resources we have examined, the AHRC Code of Practice is the only one aimed at

preventing sexual harassment in small businesses, as well as larger ones. The AHRC Code of

Practice draws distinctions between the requirements of small and large businesses which

minimise the responsibilities of small business and might discourage small business owners

from addressing the prevention of sexual harassment. We believe that small businesses should

not be encouraged to think that they have a lesser responsibility in relation to the prevention of

sexual harassment. While the same degree of preventative measures might not be required of

small businesses by anti-discrimination laws, the effect of a sexual harassment complaint upon

a small business may be far more grave, given their limited resources and close-knit nature. As

well, focus on the legal responsibilities of small businesses alone neglects the other impacts of

sexual harassment, which may be felt in a range of other ways by both people within small

businesses and the community more broadly.


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We look forward to consulting with focus groups about our ideas and findings. By the end of this

year, we hope to produce a tool for use in small businesses which effectively prevents sexual

harassment and does so in a way which respects targets of this behavior and the needs of small

businesses.

Documents

LevyPurdy (2)