‘Young women … were like fresh meat’: Inside the Jenkins Report

Young women have shared harrowing stories from working in Parliament from MPs sticking their tongues “down their throat” to being seen as “fresh meat”.

TW: Discusses sexual assault.

“The MP sitting beside me leaned over. Also thinking he wanted to tell me something, I leaned in. He grabbed me and stuck his tongue down my throat. The others all laughed. It was revolting and humiliating.”

This is just one of the harrowing interview quotes in the Australian Human Rights Commission review report that was released yesterday.

In case you somehow missed it, a review was called for into Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces (CPWs) after the alleged rape of Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins.

The alleged assault of former staffer Brittany Higgans sparked the review.

The report came out yesterday, with shocking findings that one in three parliament workers have experienced sexual harassment while working in parliament, and over half of all employees working in CPWs have experienced bullying.

A large part of the report was founded on hearing the “experiences, expectations and suggestions” of 1723 individuals — both staff and stakeholders of Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces — so that the 28 final recommendations reflected their experiences. These included better leadership, better gender balance, stronger alcohol policies and improving ways to report misconduct, as well as expanding support avenues.

A disturbing number of the interview excerpts point to a culture of sexual harassment, assault and bullying (particularly from higher ups to staff they had power over) being so ingrained that reporting incidents didn’t even feel like an option.

“From the get-go there’s no incentive to actually report because it’s not going to change it and it’s probably actually going to make it worse,” said one interview in the report.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison out the front of Parliament House after the Jenkins Report is released.

“I thought it was normal to tell people that they should avoid certain people at events. I thought it was normal to tell people how to take alcohol to remain safe. Now that I look back on it, that is insane. And there is still a whole generation of people that work in politics that think that is normal, because they’re the ones who set those expectations,” said another.

“You don’t just come in and decide to do something one way. It’s because that’s how it has been done, or that’s how you’re taught to do it.”

Not surprisingly (although always disappointingly), women do appear to have dealt with the worst of this unprofessional and ladish workplace culture.

“I do often describe Parliament House as the most sexist place I’ve worked. I guess there is a workplace culture of drinking. There’s not a lot of accountability. The boys are lads. And that behaviour is celebrated and … they do treat women, our female staffers and female admin staff, quite differently. Young women, particularly media advisers coming in, particularly the younger women coming in, were like fresh meat and challenges.”

”Young women … particularly the younger women coming in, were like fresh meat and challenges.”

One woman of colour recalled feeling particularly out of place, due to who she was.

“[A] clear indication given to me by my colleagues, peers and managers that I don’t belong here and that this isn’t a (physically or psychologically) safe space for me, being a young woman of colour,” she said.

However, it’s not only women who suffered under this toxic workplace culture.

“The heightened sensitivity I have as a gay man in this environment, the heightened level of self awareness that I have acquired as a survival skill … mean[s] that I’ve been much more conscious about my vulnerabilities, much more conscious of the risks that people might like to put me in,” explained a responder.

Even in general, the report appears to make it clear that parliament workers have a tendency to lord their power over staffers, with a “trickle down” affect of pressure and stress. The report quotes one responder who was reflecting on the how the behaviour of the parliamentarian she worked for would impact the whole office.

“You can just tell straightaway, as soon as he walks in. Every drama in his life, whether it’s personal or professional, becomes my drama because it’s just how it is, and how he takes it out on his staff.”

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins says she’s positive change can occur.

Another participant recalled often hearing “people crying in the toilets” and never asking if it was “the pressure of the high stress work environment” or something else, because they were “just trying to survive” and “fight my own battles”.

Honestly, the report is quite confronting. It’s nearly 500 pages and an equal chunk of that is made of quotes from participant interviews — none of which are good, and are all varying degrees of terrible. So why didn’t anybody blow the whistle earlier?

‘Fear is a big factor,” one responder explained, “probably the biggest”.

Despite the only change so far being a mere slap on the wrist for sexual harassment — Parliamentarians who sexually harass their staff could lose pay and be suspended from parliament — Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins says the report makes her confident that things can change.