Academic evidence on the causes, manifestations and responses to workplace sexual harassment: Initial submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission's National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces

The purpose of this initial submission to the Inquiry is to canvas a wide array of relevant scholarly evidence on the causes of, and responses to, sexual harassment in the world of work in Australia. Given the likelihood that several legal experts will provide submissions to the Inquiry, we confine our discussion in this submission, insofar as the possibility of legal responses, to sexual harassment across the key jurisdictions of employment, worker health and safety (WH&S) and anti-discrimination regulation. The enduring problem of sexual harassment, most recently and compellingly revealed through the #MeToo movement, means that the need for reform to better prevent and redress sexual harassment and other gendered workplace conduct such as sex-based bullying, everyday sexism, and predatory behaviour, has never been more urgent. This can be achieved through reform of legal regulation and policy, external dispute resolution fora such as human rights commissions and worker health and safety regulators, and critically, organisational policy and practice