More than one in three women in civil aviation ‘have been sexually assaulted at work’

More than a third of women in the civil air transport sector have been sexually assaulted in the workplace, a Unite survey has found.

 

The union polled its 30,000 women members in the sector about whether they had experienced sexual harassment while at work, travelling to work or from a colleague including during out-of-work hours.

 

It found 34% of women working in civil air transport, including cabin crew, front-of-desk staff and baggage handlers, had been sexually assaulted at work.

 

Balvinder Bir, national officer for civil air transport at Unite, said: “It is clear that women working for airlines and in the sector are being failed by their employers and this cannot continue.”

 

The survey, part of Unite’s Zero Tolerance to Sexual Harassment campaign, found 67% had experienced unwanted flirting, gesturing or sexual remarks, 65% had been the recipient of sexually offensive jokes, 55% had been inappropriately touched and over four in 10 had been shared or shown pornographic images by a manager, colleague or third party such as a passenger.

 

A total of 11% had experienced sexual coercion while at work. This is when a person pressures, tricks, threatens or manipulates someone into engaging in sexual activity without genuine consent.

 

Of those who had been sexually harassed at work, in most cases it was not a one off-instance – nearly half (47%) had it happen more than twice, while a third (34%) had experienced it more than once.

 

However, 80% of respondents did not report the incidents.

 

Unite added that many respondents said they did not report harassment they had experienced or witnessed as they worried they would not be believed or that it would put their job at risk, while others felt it was not taken seriously when they did raise it.

 

More than three quarters (76%) said the issue was not addressed or tackled by management.

 

Unite has launched a campaign calling for greater protections to “end the menace of workplace harassment”.

 

Measures being called for include the introduction of a standalone sexual harassment policy; mandatory training on sexual harassment for all employees and a commitment to recognise union equality representatives with paid time off; the deadline for being able to make a claim in an employment tribunal to be extended from three months after the incident occurred to six months as a minimum for lodging a claim; the government to put in extra legal protections, such as third-party harassment and sexual harassment being treated by the Health and Safety Executive as a workplace injury.

 

Bir said: “Much more needs to be done to protect women, to help them report but also for incidents to be taken more seriously when they do so – for example, we hear time and time again from our members that they have faced harassment from passengers.

 

“All that happens is these passengers may get a ban from the airline but they are free to fly with other airlines and offend again.

 

“We will fight all the way to ensure that Unite’s campaign demands are met so women working in the industry are fully protected and they are safe to work without harassment.”

 

A government spokesperson said: “Sexual harassment is completely unacceptable, it has no place in our society, and we expect any employer to take a zero-tolerance approach wherever it is found. 

 

“Our Employment Rights Bill will strengthen protections for workers, requiring employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees, including by third parties.”