The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has welcomed the passage of the Sex Discrimination and Fair Work (Respect at Work) Amendment Bill 2021, ahead of today's National Summit on Women's Safety.
The new legislation implements the Australian Government’s response to a number of recommendations in the Sex Discrimination Commissioner’s Respect@Work Report.
The report found that 39% of women and 26% of men had experienced sexual harassment at work.
According to the Respect@Work findings, sexual harassment at work costs the Australian economy $3.8 billion each year.
To address this issue, the government unveiled the 'Roadmap for Respect', which sees it agree or agree in principle or in part to 46 recommendations from the report.
"The Federal Government’s new laws are a positive step in addressing a shameful situation that required urgent attention," ARA CEO Paul Zahra said.
"Given that women drive 75% of discretionary retail spending and make up 65% of the workforce, these are critically important issues for ARA members.
"To that end, our advisory committee has endorsed a number of initiatives that aim to build capability and leverage data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency to identify and promote best practice.
"These measures will form part of the ARA’s broader Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy.
"Our members are stepping up to the challenge but everyone – governments, employers and employees – have an important role to play in driving the cultural change that is so desperately needed to establish safe workplaces and gender equality in Australia," he said.
The passing of the legislation coincided with the third meeting of the ARA’s Advisory Committee on Diversity, Equality and Inclusion, which brings together CEOs from Australia’s largest retailers who have a shared commitment to reducing inequality in the retail sector.
Chaired by Elise Sharpley (Deloitte) with advisory support from Natasha Stott Despoja AO, the Committee welcomed expert advice from eminent specialists including Kate Jenkins, Patty Kinnersly and Karen Mundine.
"Earlier this week the committee heard from the Victorian Public Sector Gender Equality Commissioner, Dr Niki Vincent, who highlighted the urgent need for sexual harassment issues to be on every board’s agenda," Zahra added.
"Dr Vincent also talked about the role that everyday unconscious bias plays in unlawful gender discrimination and the need to address the pay gap at all levels of an organisation – a timely reminder given Pay Equity Day earlier this week highlighted a 14.2% pay gap between men and women," he said.
The Respect at Work legislation implements the government’s commitments in response to recommendations 16, 20, 21, 22, 29 and 30 of the Respect@Work Report by:
- creating a new object clause to make it clear that the Sex Discrimination Act aims to achieve, so far as practicable, equality of opportunity between men and women
- clarifying that harassing a person on the basis of sex is prohibited under the Sex Discrimination Act
- protecting more workers from sexual harassment, particularly vulnerable workers, by broadening the scope of people covered by the Sex Discrimination Act clarifying that members of parliament and judges (and their staff) are covered by the Sex Discrimination Act
- clarifying that a complaint of victimisation can be considered as either a civil or criminal matter
- extending the timeframe for which a complaint can be made to the Australian Human Rights Commission to reduce procedural barriers for complainants under the Sex Discrimination Act
- clarifying that the Fair Work Commission may make orders to stop sexual harassment in the workplace
- clarifying that sexual harassment can be a valid reason for dismissal under the Fair Work Act
Today's National Summit on Women's Safety will discuss key topics including financial security, policing and justice responses, sexual violence and challenges facing diverse members of the Australian community.