![]() ![]() The report said, “learners told inspectors they experience homophobic language and taunting … female learners do not feel comfortable in areas such as the student common room”. The college had been judged inadequate and I wanted to understand why. I started researching this issue more deeply last year – I was finally prompted to take action after reading an Ofsted report on a college I used to do some marketing work for. My own experiences left me wondering – why don’t we? According to the Fawcett Society, 79 per cent of women don’t report sexual harassment at work. But how many of them have reported it? I never did. I expect if you asked them, most women you know have experienced some form of harassment. I didn’t hear anything more about the incident after that and I didn’t pursue it. Someone else reported it to HR (considering the incident occurred in a busy canteen, I shouldn’t have been surprised) and I had to explain what had happened. But I didn’t take it seriously, I always thought he was an idiot and he’d just confirmed it. Lifestyle Why anti-ageing experts think collagen supplements are a waste of money Read More According to a survey by the National Union of Students, 68 per cent of students experience verbal or physical sexual harassment. For college and university students this figure is higher. To put that in perspective, The TUC found that almost three in five women (58 per cent) have experienced harassment at work. It wasn’t until a male colleague said: “If a man touched you like that, repeatedly, you’d see it for what it really is – sexual harassment.” She finally stopped when she was confronted by another colleague.įast forward 30 years and sexual harassment in the workplace hasn’t gone away it’s still deeply entrenched, and at our colleges and universities too. It made me feel uncomfortable, humiliated, and vulnerable and I dreaded going to work, which was such a shame, because I loved my job.Īnd, I didn’t even consider it was harassment, just something I had to endure for a short time each day before I could get on with my work. It was a running joke with my workmates, they would warn me she was on her way to my desk and then mercilessly take the rise out of me after. ![]() It was from a woman, senior to me, who would inappropriately touch me, every single day, in full view of my colleagues. ![]() You dress differently, you behave differently, and you become more thoughtful about where you’re going and how you’re going to get there.Īfter I left the Navy, and entered advertising I encountered a different kind of sexual harassment. The first time you experience sexual harassment you feel shocked, humiliated, and scared, the second time you feel ashamed, and you start questioning yourself – what have I done to encourage this? And, after the third, fourth, fifth, etc… you just avoid getting yourself into these situations as best you can. I wouldn’t walk near a group of men on my own, and I always left the weekly “social” before the slow dances came on (I needed to get out before the drunk sailors tried to shove their tongue down my throat or push their groin onto my pelvis). Self-preservation was a skill I learnt quickly. I was absolutely overwhelmed by the male attention, the catcalling, jeering, lewd remarks, and sailors who had difficulty understanding the word “no”. I was a trainee air engineer in the Royal Navy there weren’t many other females around. I was just 17 when I first experienced sexual harassment. ![]()
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