Sexual harassment, digital violence and an entrenched inequality in how care is shared — national data has revealed how we’re (still) failing women in the workplace. Photo: KatarzynaBialasiewicz.
Women in Australia are now less safe at work than they were a decade ago, and the consequences reach far beyond office walls.
New national data, coupled with frontline warnings from the Illawarra Women’s Health Centre, paints a stark picture: workplaces are increasingly failing women at the very time they are most needed as sites of safety, support and early intervention.
The latest Gender Equality @ Work Index shows women’s workplace safety has declined three points since 2014, dropping to a score of 75 out of 100. It is the only measure in the index that has gone backwards despite years of new legislation, employer commitments and cultural conversations.
The trend is driven largely by persistent rates of sexual harassment, with more than 40 per cent of women reporting harassment in the past five years.
For Illawarra Women’s Health Centre Executive Director Sally Stevenson, the findings confirm what frontline services have been seeing for years.
“Women are holding up the economy through unpaid care, and then they’re walking into workplaces where their safety is increasingly compromised,” she said.
“This is not progress. This is a system failing women, and the impacts on health, financial security and wellbeing are devastating.”
The strain is compounded by entrenched inequality in the distribution of care.
According to the index, the “Hours” dimension, which covers paid work, unpaid domestic labour and parental leave, remains stuck at 76. Meaning, women are participating in the labour market at higher levels than a decade ago, yet still performing the majority of unpaid care.
The result is the familiar “double shift”: working more while carrying the heavier burden at home, limiting opportunities for advancement and suppressing lifetime earnings.
But the Illawarra Women’s Health Centre warns that the crisis in workplace safety extends beyond sexual harassment and poor reporting pathways.
A growing number of women are turning to employers as the only safe place to disclose domestic, family and sexual violence.
The centre’s specialist program, Workplace for Change, supports organisations to respond to employees experiencing violence — including emerging forms of digital abuse that can follow a woman straight into her workplace.
Digital violence is evolving rapidly, with cases of surveillance, harassment, image-based abuse and coercive control increasingly intersecting with a woman’s professional life.
Many victim-survivors report partners using technology to track their movements, monitor workplace logins, or weaponise social media in ways that undermine career prospects and psychological safety.
For some women, the workplace is the only physical environment where they are beyond the perpetrator’s reach, and the only place they can safely access support.
Jess Davidson, the centre’s general manager, says employers need to see themselves as part of the solution.
“No one should fear losing their job or remaining silent because of what they’re experiencing at home or online,” she said. “Workplaces can be powerful places of safety, but only if employers are prepared, informed and proactive.”
Unlike generic HR or compliance approaches, the Workplaces for Change program draws on frontline expertise, lived experience and legal knowledge to help organisations recognise the signs of abuse and respond appropriately.
The program offers tailored training, specialist guidance for HR and management teams, and confidential counselling and case management for employees who may be at risk.
As digital abuse becomes more sophisticated, the centre argues workplace responses must evolve with equal urgency.
Domestic, family and sexual violence can profoundly affect a woman’s attendance, performance and mental health, yet many employees still fear discrimination, job loss or disbelief if they speak up.
In some cases, internal systems meant to protect staff can inadvertently escalate risk, particularly where perpetrators have access to shared technology or workplace networks.
The centre is urging employers to strengthen internal support systems, build awareness into leadership training and lead with care, confidentiality and community-informed practice. The goal is not only to support individual employees, but to drive meaningful cultural change.
For Ms Stevenson, the path forward is clear.
“If we’re serious about equality, we need to fix safety and care first,” she said. “Until women are safe at work and men share care fairly at home, nothing else will shift.”
Organisations interested in supporting employees affected by domestic, family and sexual violence can contact Workplaces for Change co-ordinator Kaila James-Quinn on 4255 6800.
