Are work experience participants protected against sex discrimination or sexual harassment?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1037969X2110028
Author(s):  
Anne Hewitt ◽  
Rosemary Owens ◽  
Andrew Stewart ◽  
Joanna Howe
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Sex Discrimination ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Significant Power ◽  
Power Disparity ◽  
Complex Question

More and more young Australians are undertaking periods of work experience as a part of their study or independently to facilitate their transition into employment. They are often subject to a significant power disparity compared to others in the workplace, and need the placement to finish a course, and/or to get practical experience, connections and industry references. This makes them vulnerable, including to sexual harassment and sex discrimination. However, whether prohibitions of such conduct apply to them is a complex question, which this article explores.

Sexual Harassment of Working Women: A Case of Sex Discrimination

1980 ◽  
Vol 80 (8) ◽  
pp. 1686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadine Taub ◽  
Catherine A. MacKinnon
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Working Women ◽  
Sex Discrimination

scholarly journals Recent Developments in Sexual Harassment Law: Towards a New Model

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Mackay
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Sex Discrimination ◽  
Power Imbalance ◽  
Persistent Problem ◽  
New Model ◽  
Senate Committee ◽  
Sexual Harassment Law ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Positive Duties ◽  
Males And Females

<p>Despite more than 20 years of sexual harassment being unlawful, it is still a persistent problem in Australian workplaces and one which is grossly under-reported. The law is this area should seek both to redress the harm<br />suffered by the victim and to reduce the power imbalance between males and females. The effectiveness of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 in achieving these objectives was reviewed by a Senate Committee in 2008.<br />One of its recommendations was for positive duties to be imposed on employers to eliminate sexual harassment. This article outlines how this recommendation might be implemented, and taken further, by shifting the<br />onus away from the victim and onto the more powerful players in any sexual harassment scenario – the harasser, the employer and the community in the relevant workplace.</p>

scholarly journals Can Law Address Intersectional Sexual Harassment? The Case of Claimants with Personality Disorders

Laws ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen O’Connell
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Personality Disorders ◽  
Sex Discrimination ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Feminist Perspective ◽  
Prevalence Rates ◽  
Legal Practice ◽  
The Law

Sexual harassment across multiple grounds, including race, disability, sexuality and age, remains an entrenched problem that is poorly dealt with in law. Prevalence rates for intersectional sexual harassment are higher for certain groups, while legal redress is low. This paper examines case law on sexual harassment in Australia where there are intersectional factors and asks whether the “intersectionality” section inserted into the federal Sex Discrimination Act in 2011 has impacted legal practice and decision-making. In particular, it considers the situation of sexual harassment claimants with behavioural and personality traits that are considered “disordered” and the specifically gendered disability stereotypes that shape their treatment in law. Recent cases in Australia dealing with the sexual harassment of people with personality disorders show that intersectionality provisions of sexual harassment laws may in fact be used to undermine a legal claim by a person with disability rather than strengthen it. This article argues that an intersectional legal feminist perspective on harassment is needed for the law to work.

scholarly journals Negotiating Respect: Sexual Harassment and the Law in Hong Kong

2005 ◽  
Vol 7 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 127-168
Author(s):  
Carole J. Petersen
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Chinese Women ◽  
Current Model ◽  
Sex Discrimination ◽  
Public Hearing ◽  
Power Imbalance ◽  
Equal Opportunities ◽  
Statutory Duty ◽  
Systemic Impact ◽  
The Law

This article critiques the sexual harassment provisions of Hong Kong's Sex Discrimination Ordinance , as well as the enforcement model. Although the judiciary has had some opportunity to interpret the Ordinance, most complaints never reach the courts because the Equal Opportunities Commission has a statutory duty to attempt to conciliate a complaint before granting legal assistance. When the Ordinance was enacted it was widely assumed that Chinese women would prefer confidential conciliation to a public hearing. However, interviews with past complainants and representatives of women's organizations reveal that many complainants find conciliation conferences to be extremely stressful. They also feel demeaned and disempowered by what is effectively an obligation to negotiate with the respondent. The author concludes that the current model exacerbates the power imbalance between complainants and respondents and limits the systemic impact of the law. She argues that an informal and inexpensive Equal Opportunities Tribunal should be created. This would allow those complainants who are willing to try their complaints to proceed directly to a hearing, without any obligation to first participate in conciliation.

Harnessing the expertise and enthusiasm of university students for assistance in disasters

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-216
Author(s):  
Sharon Medcalf, PhD ◽  
Mariah Morgan, MPH
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Student Response ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
The Public ◽  
Emory University ◽  
Response Team ◽  
The University

The University of Nebraska Medical Center’s, College of Public Health modeled a student response team after similar successful programs at Emory University and the University of North Carolina. The team was created for three specific scenarios: epidemiology outbreak assistance, points of dispensing assistance, and monitoring social media in a disaster. Graduate students in public health are an overlooked volunteer resource. Many have prior work experience and are eager for the opportunity to gain additional practical experience while demonstrating classroom knowledge about the foundations of public health. Requesting agencies gain access to a dependable, replenishable volunteer pool. Academic institutions are encouraged to create teams to serve local communities, giving students access to serve local communities and to give students access to valuable applied experience that can be beneficial as they enter the public health workforce.

A reasonable woman standard in sexual harassment litigation

Legal Studies ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 552-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giorgio Monti
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Sex Discrimination ◽  
Tort Law ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Feminist Perspective ◽  
Corrective Justice ◽  
Reasonable Woman Standard ◽  
Gender Specific

Sexual harassment litigation may be thwarted by judges failing to address the acts in question from the perspective of the victim, thus legitimising behaviour acceptable to men but unacceptable to women. This paper shows how this problem may be overcome by adopting a ‘reasonable woman’ standard to decide if: (i) objectively, the acts in question constitute harassment; and (ii) subjectively, whether the victim suffered injury. Using US case law the paper shows how the reasonable woman standard, which has been accepted in some courts, can allow women's perspectives to be heard. The paper suggests that a reasonable woman standard should be adopted in UK tort law, specifically in litigation under the Sex Discrimination Act, but also for litigation under trespass torts and under the Protection from Harassment Act. Doctrinally, the proposed standard fits within the fabric of tort la; and does not challenge the principle of corrective justice. From a feminist perspective, the reasonable woman standard can successfully redirect tort law to address gender-specific harms.

scholarly journals Loss of Individual and Social Identity: Consequences of Sexual Harassment of Iranian Nurses in the Workplace

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Zeighami ◽  
Parvin Mangolian Shahrbabaki ◽  
Mohammad Ali Zakeri ◽  
Mahlagha Dehghan
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Family Relationships ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Psychological Trauma ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Main Category ◽  
Physical Problems ◽  
Significant Burden

Background: Sexual harassment in the workplace is a common event with negative consequences for victims. Working conditions become unstable because of sexual harassment, and workplace insecurity causes psychological distress and physical problems, as well as a reduction in the quality of care. Therefore, the current study sought to investigate the effects of sexual harassment in the workplace on Iranian nurses.Materials and Methods: This qualitative study used conventional content analysis with a descriptive-explorative approach to investigate the consequences of sexual harassment in Iranian nurses (n = 22). The purposeful sampling method was used. Semi-structured and in-depth interviews were used to collect data. Maximum diversity in terms of age, sex, work experience, level of education, marital status, and type of hospital and ward was observed in order to obtain rich information. The Guba and Lincoln criteria were used to improve the study’s trustworthiness and rigor, and the Graneheim and Lundman method was used to analyze the content.Results: Two hundred and twenty-seventh number codes, one main category, four subcategories, and eighteen primary categories were extracted from the data in this study. The main category of “loss of individual and social identity: the consequences of sexual harassment in nurses” is divided into four subcategories: “psychological trauma,” “detrimental effects of work,” “physical problems,” and “disintegration of warm family relationships.” Sexual harassment had a greater psychological impact on victims.Conclusion: Sexual harassment has a number of negative consequences for nurses’ personal and professional lives and can impose a significant burden on the healthcare system due to decreased productivity and loss of active labor. Therefore, it requires increased attention and focus.

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