Section 2: The current context for this Inquiry However, rates were notably high in some industries. For example, while in 2018, the information, media and telecommunications industry accounted for just 2% of the Australian workforce as a whole, 5% of victims said they were working in this industry when they were sexually harassed.10 Concerningly, the 2018 National Survey found that fewer than one in five people (17%) said they made a formal complaint in relation to sexual harassment.11 Of those who made a formal complaint, almost half (45%) said nothing changed at their workplace as a result.12 Two thirds of the people who told the Commission they had witnessed sexual harassment in the last five years said they took no action.13 These findings make clear sexual harassment is a serious yet hidden issue in Australian workplaces. In the years since the Commission began its work tracking the prevalence of sexual harassment, significant changes have taken place in both Australian workplaces and in society in general. These changes influence not only the nature of sexual harassment and where it occurs, but also whether and how victims talk about their experiences. This section considers the context in which contemporary workplace sexual harassment is taking place, which raises both longstanding and fresh challenges for Australia in preventing and responding to this problem. 70 Section 2.2 begins by considering the historical context to the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) (Sex Discrimination Act) and efforts to address sexual harassment in Australia. Section 2.3 provides a brief overview of Australia’s international obligations and the domestic legal and regulatory frameworks that relate to workplace sexual harassment. Section 2.4 considers how changes in the nature of work and declining union membership have affected the way in which sexual harassment is experienced by victims. Section 2.5 looks at the growing global movement towards transparency around issues of sexual harassment, driven in particular by social media campaigns and media reporting. Section 2.6 highlights the importance of understanding the costs of sexual harassment. Section 2.7 concludes by considering the global response to sexual harassment and the potential for Australia to take a leadership role in this space. 2.2 Historical context 35 years later, we are still faced with alarming statistics on the prevalence of sexual harassment, with all the costs at individual, employer and macroeconomic levels.14