Lord Mayor Sally Capp leads Not in my Workplace summit to quash workplace sexual harassment

Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp has joined a call for Victorian business leaders to take urgent action to stamp out sexual harassment.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp has joined a call for Victorian business leaders to take urgent action to stamp out sexual harassment.

Ms Capp will next week open the inaugural Not in My Workplace summit, which will bring together some of Victoria’s most high-profile women and men in a bid to bring about organisational change.

She said she was proud to be introducing the summit.

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“Real and lasting change in our community takes hold when leaders and individuals come together and commit to turning awareness into action,” she said.

Last year the Victorian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission reported a 20 per cent increase in complaints, on top of a 32 per cent increase from the previous year.

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins will attend the Not in My Workplace summit. Picture: Kym Smith

The Human Rights Commission’s national inquiry ­includes hundreds of submissions from women who said they were asked for sex, forced to endure comments about their body and heard endless sexually explicit jokes.

One woman said she was locked in a toilet cubicle until she agreed to kiss her manager. Another said a man wanted to “unlesbian” her.

Submissions have been ­received from state government employees, as well as those working in science, ­academia, law, hospitality and warehouses.

Submissions publicly released so far revealed men who touched and slapped women they worked with, accused them of having affairs to get ahead and made numerous demands for dates.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp Ms Capp will next week open the inaugural Not in My Workplace summit. Picture: Jay Town

Many women say they didn’t report the harassment, and just left the job. Others lost their jobs after making a report and some suffered crippling anxiety and PTSD for years.

The summit, in Melbourne on Thursday, will also include Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins, former Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs, ­Minister for Women Gabrielle Williams and Zoos Victoria chief executive Jenny Gray. 

“I call on any business leader, male or female, established or aspiring, to take responsibility to help end workplace ­sexual harassment,” said Karen Bollinger, chair of the summit and CEO of the Melbourne Convention Bureau.

Ms Capp’s predecessor, Robert Doyle, quit the post last year after a number of sexual harassment and sexual assault claims were made against him. He has denied the allegations.

Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner Kristen Hilton said the rise in complaints “highlights the complete inadequacy of our entire system for dealing with and responding to matters of sexual harassment”.

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