Human rights lawyer: ‘You might win at court but you lose later’.

A review of two decades of legal cases led one of Queensland’s top anti-discrimination lawyers to one conclusion - women don’t have the same rights as men and it’s costing them their careers.

Brisbane lawyer Susan Moriarty says the law is failing women who take their sexual harassment and discrimination claims to court. Photo. istock.

ONE of Queensland’s most senior anti-discrimination and employment lawyers has blasted the justice system saying women’s lives are being ruined by it even when they win.

Susan Moriarty, a former political adviser to the Queensland Attorney-General and former principal legal adviser to the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Commission, has flagged serious concerns about the outcomes for women pursuing human rights breaches including discrimination and sexual harassment.

Ms Moriarty said after two decades of research it’s clear “maybe women shouldn’t litigate because afterwards you will not have a career”.

Ms Moriarty is delivering a speech at the LegalWise conference in Brisbane today.

She said research revealed the devastating effect legal decisions were having on women’s lives “even when they win”.

“It (the research) speaks to the vivid inequality between the legitimacy men have around exercising their rights that women don’t have.”

Anti-discrimination and employment lawyer Susan Moriarty

Ms Moriarty said her research showed the “whole question of sexual harassment, even when it involved serious sexual assault, was treated as a frivolity in the business world”.

“There is no stain for men. For women it is a continuation of what happens to rape victims.

“It is the whole question of boys will be boys and if you complain it is some aspect of your behaviour that has caused this problem … for sexual harassment it is just you’re a whinger. It is so pervasive.”

Ms Moriarty said the presence of women within the justice system had failed to alter outcomes for women.

“There is a multitude of female magistrates and judges … so it is not answered by filling the justice system with female appointees.

“These are really difficult questions about litigation and the court system and the society we live in.”

“We believed the justice system would deliver accountability and what I am here to say is that this is not what is happening for women … women are being failed in seeking legal shelter from domestic violence and failed when they bring their terrible tales of treatment by men to the court system. You might win at court but then you lose everything post that.”

“The purpose of what I am demonstrating is that, in terms of mens’ careers, post the course of litigating, their careers don’t skip a beat.”

“The business world is oblivious to proven mistreatment of women or dismissive when it is brought screaming to their attention. More often than not, the company treats a disclosure as a risk management exercise. It zooms in on how to stifle any controversy rather than remedy the mistreatment.

“But women’s claims are dismissed or even if they do win they are still never heard of again.”

“Men can be exposed for all manner of embarrassing and inappropriate conduct in the workplace and they can rise to be President of the United States. But for women if their lives don’t implode, after they complain and litigate, they splutter along and flat line or never really get to the heights they held and certainly don’t go ahead.”

“It was not always so but litigation is a dark art now.”

Brisbane lawyer Susan Moriarty says the justice system is broken and women are paying the price. Photo istock.

She said a woman who had been subjected to forced sexual conduct, whose accuser was found liable for several counts of serious sexual harassment, suffered the collapse of her marriage, was required to pay her legal fees and when her accuser filed for bankruptcy she received next to no compensation and “last I heard she was living in a bus”.

“Other women never work again in their chosen field,” Ms Moriarty said.

“This is a serious public policy issue. This is about litigating and what happens after the decision is released and even if there is a successful outcome for the woman the men take the social and employment elevator up and women take the lift down.”

Anti-discrimination lawyer Susan Moriarty says the justice system is failing woman who take their claims to court. Photo istock.

Ms Moriarty said women were being financially ruined by trying to seek justice.

“A man can have his entire sexual life profiled in the media and nothing happens – in fact he may end up heading up a multinational company whereas a woman is forced to disappear from public life,” Ms Moriarty said.

“At a practical level what I am saying is these are things women need to know about the justice system.”

“What I am talking about is the civil equivalent of the Hannah Clarke experience. If you think you are going to find some kind of sanctuary in the civil system – think again, you won’t find much at all.”