Section 3: Understanding sexual harassment in the workplace S N A PSHOT • The Commission conducts a national survey on workplace sexual harassment in Australia approximately every four years. These surveys are an important source of data on the prevalence, nature, reporting, impacts of and responses to workplace sexual harassment in Australia. • The Commission’s 2018 national survey of sexual harassment in Australian workplaces (the 2018 National Survey), and other research and data, confirm that sexual harassment is a pervasive problem in workplaces. The 2018 National Survey found that: » 33% of people who had been in the workforce in the last five years said they experienced workplace sexual harassment in that time. » Women experienced higher rates of sexual harassment than men. » Young workers aged 18–29 years had the highest prevalence rate of all age groups. • The national survey should be as comprehensive as possible and conducted regularly to provide employers, governments, non-government organisations and the community with reliable data to inform policy, law and practice and help assess the effectiveness of measures to address sexual harassment over time. • This should include provision of detailed industry data to allow analysis across and within industries, to identify areas of concern and better target prevention initiatives, resources and support. The survey should also be accessible to, and adequately capture the experiences of, people from all population groups. • There is currently little consistency in the collection, monitoring or reporting of data on workplace sexual harassment by human rights, anti-discrimination and other regulatory agencies. • The collection and reporting of de-identified data on workplace sexual harassment by the Commission, state and territory human rights and anti-discrimination agencies, Fair Work, WHS and workers’ compensation agencies is key to the success of the new regulatory model proposed by the Commission (see Section 5). • The development of formal information sharing and data exchange mechanisms regarding sexual harassment complaints between regulatory agencies, under guidance from the Workplace Sexual Harassment Council, will also support the Commission’s proposed new regulatory model. • Workplace sexual harassment can take many forms. It can be verbal, physical and involve the use of technology, and is often repeated and ongoing. • Power disparities in society and in the workplace enable sexual harassment. Gender inequality is the key power disparity that drives sexual harassment, both in the workplace and more broadly in society. • Other inequalities also play a pivotal role in driving sexual harassment, with some people experiencing ‘intersecting’ forms of discrimination that can increase their risk of experiencing sexual harassment and make it harder for them to report it (for example, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people with disability, LGBTQI people and people of CALD backgrounds). 92