Study Finds Sexual Harassment Up 20%

Research by communications agency Bastion Collective has revealed that rates of sexual harassment in Australia have risen sharply despite heightened awareness and recent campaigns against domestic violence.

The research found that 18 per cent of Australian women agreed that they have suffered sexual harassment in the past 12 months (up from 15 per cent in 2018, representing a 20 per cent increase). This hasn’t improved amongst the younger generation with almost a quarter (24 per cent) of women aged 18 – 24 having experienced sexual harassment in the past 12 months.

Eighteen per cent of Australian women report they have experienced violence of some kind in the past 12 months.

Dianne Gardiner, Bastion Insights CEO said, “This research shows that we have barely shifted the dial when it comes to combating sexual harassment and violence against women in Australia despite the Me Too movement and Rosie Batty’s campaign against domestic violence. This is deeply concerning and shows that there is still so much work to do within our society if we are going to implement meaningful change.”

Bastion Insights, the Collective’s research arm, is the exclusive partner for the Worldwide Independent Network of market research agencies (the WIN network). Bastion insights conducted the Australian component of the worldwide survey among 29,000 people across 39 countries, and interviewed 1,000 Australians to gauge their views on a range of issues as part of this global piece of research.

“This data is part of the WIN Network’s World Survey for 2020 which explores the outlook, views and beliefs of people across 39 countries. Bastion Insights has been partnering with the network on the Australian component of the survey since 2018. The value of this survey is that it allows us to track change over time and provide decision makers with the latest insights to guide policy responses,” Gardiner said.

The survey also revealed Australians’ attitudes about gender equality in politics and the workplace. Only 40 per cent of Australians agree that we have achieved gender equality in politics despite women making up only 29% of Federal MPs . When it comes to the workplace 58 per cent of Australians agree that men earn more than women for the same job.

Bastion Insights continues to work with the WIN Network’s worldwide survey on a wide range of topics and will unveil findings over the coming months.

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