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The evolution of sexual harassment in the workplace
It has been 40 years since the landmark ruling in 1986, which recognised sexual harassment as a form of workplace discrimination under UK law. The claim was brought forward by a school lab tech in Scotland and was the first time sexual harassment was recognised under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. So, what has happened since this first legal case?
Unfortunately, sexual harassment continues to pervade women’s lives, both in and out of the workplace. We saw the introduction of new laws such as the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 which looked at banning any conduct that caused ‘alarm or distress’, covering the workplace, public spaces, and online platforms, but it didn’t explicitly mention the word ‘sexual’ and required there to be a pattern of behaviour. There was a clear gap in protection which was then covered by the Equality Act 2010, that more clearly defined women’s experiences in the workplace, by including the word ‘sexual’, and treating a single incident as enough of a violation.
Even with this increased legal protection, due to the normalisation of sexual harassment, it continues to be underreported with many women feeling they wouldn’t be believed, or they’d be blamed for what happened. The power that perpetrators had to silence women become ever clearer with the #MeToo movement created by Tarana Burke, which sparked global conversation in 2017 and spotlighted the lack of action workplaces were taking to protect women. There have also been countless high-profile cases exposing the use of non-disclosures agreements to protect perpetrators, such as the Presidents Club dinner which was only attended by men and where women working as hostesses were sexually assaulted. Sexual harassment also remains a prevailing problem in politics, serving to constrain women’s representation at all levels of government. A recent report by Engender on women councillor’s experiences in local government found that 40% of those who had experienced sexism, misogyny and violence had experienced sexual harassment. For many women, in all types of workplaces, sexual harassment is a constant and daily reality.
This year, Close the Gap is celebrating 25 years of working on women’s labour market participation in Scotland. We wanted to take this time to look back over the last 25 years to see where practice on preventing sexual harassment has changed. While the recent changes in the law, the Worker Protection (Amendment to Equality Act 2010) Act and the Employment Rights Act, have been long overdue, legislation alone will not eradicate sexual harassment. Significant work remains to ensure victim-survivors feel safe to report and are supported in the workplace. The increased resistance to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives, the rise in far-right politics, and the exploitation of modern ways of working, all threaten to undermine progress. Against this backdrop, tackling sexual harassment in the workplace is as important as ever.
Sexual harassment’s prevalence
To start looking at how practice around sexual harassment has changed over the last 25 years, we need to look at the numbers. It’s widely recognised that sexual harassment occurs in the workplace, but its prevalence and how it manifests in the workplace are often underestimated and misunderstood. We’ve seen an increasing amount of research over the last 25 years exposing the scope of the issue. Sexual harassment is widespread and persistent, and its systemic nature means it happens in all sectors. However, the characteristics of certain industries such as hospitality, retail and care, in which there is more insecure work, make women more vulnerable to workplace sexual harassment and it’s even more difficult for them to access support or justice when it happens.
Similarly, research has also shown that male-dominated sectors are often hotspots for sexual harassment. A 2022 survey of 6,000 workers found that 41% of the women working in construction said, ‘the fear of sexual harassment has an impact on their career’. In the technology sector, which is similar in terms of its gender split, 26% of the survey respondents had experienced inappropriate comments or behaviour from a male colleague. Further, Unite’s recent survey polled women working across sectors and found that there’s higher levels of staff experiencing sexual harassment in construction, civil air transport, passenger transport, food, drink and agricultural and road transport, warehousing and logistics, with many incidents going unreported.
Within the healthcare sectors, over the last 5 years, there’s been an increased focus on exposing the high levels of sexism, sexual harassment and sexual assault that nurses, healthcare assistants, trainee doctors and consultants are facing from colleagues and patients. Campaigning group, Surviving in Scrubs, revealed in their 2023 report that 42% of doctors and nurses that were surveyed had experienced sexual harassment and 20% had been sexually assaulted. On their website, they invite victim-survivors to anonymously share their experiences and currently have 239 stories. The British Medical Association found in their ‘Sexism in Medicine’ report that 91% of women doctors experienced sexism in the last two years. Further, a large number of respondents reported that they experienced unwanted physical conduct in their workplace that caused them embarrassment, distress or offence. Finally, research from Nursing Times and Unison found that 61% of nurses had experienced sexual harassment. The Royal College of Nursing has also done significant work exposing the high levels of sexist and racist abuse that nurses are subjected to.
This is just a snapshot of what is being reported across sectors, and it’s important to remember that sexual harassment is significantly underreported, with many who will never report. While the available data highlights a widespread issue, the scale of the problem is likely to be much higher than the numbers would suggest.
How sexual harassment has evolved
We’ve seen the ways sexual harassment is perpetrated change to adapt to the ways we work. For example, using tech. More recently, some women’s organisations have seen an increase in being targeted, with online events that have been infiltrated by ‘Zoombombing’, a relatively new phrase to describe the hijacking of online meetings, whereby hackers display pornographic images, videos and abuse without people’s consent. Further, we’ve heard examples of colleagues sending explicit texts, messaging after-hours, mis-using access to colleagues’ personal phone numbers, watching pornography at work, using AI to create inappropriate content about colleagues, sending repeated inappropriate messages and content, and much more.
These newer forms of harassment haven’t replaced more ‘traditional behaviours’ but instead, they add to them. Sexual harassment spans both physical and digital workspaces, requiring employers to understand how risks have changed. Preventing sexual harassment means recognising that inappropriate behaviour can occur wherever work takes place, whether in the office, online, or through digital communication.
What’s changing?
With an increasing amount of research on sexual harassment, legal changes and more conversations happening in workplaces, practices, albeit slowly, seem to be changing. Something we often hear employers tell us at Close the Gap is ‘I don’t know what I can say anymore in case it’s considered sexual harassment’. This signals that we are seeing a shift in understanding about what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, but we have further to go.
While the introduction of the Worker Protection (Amendment to the Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 kickstarted action in many workplaces to finally look at prevention, the new legislation faced criticism for its watered-down approach. Some of these gaps were helpfully addressed in the new Employer Rights Act, which puts further legal responsibility on employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment (instead of just reasonable steps) and to address third-party harassment.
The Employment Rights Act also brings in new rules about the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). While it doesn’t entirely ban the use of NDAs, they can no longer be used to silence employees who have experienced harassment or discrimination.
Also, from April 2026, sexual harassment is a ‘qualifying disclosure’ under whistleblowing law meaning that whistleblowers have protection from detriment and unfair dismissal if they make a sexual harassment disclosure. This protection is applicable even if the sexual harassment or disclosure happened before 6th April 2026.
In addition to these legal changes, we’ve seen work in different sectors, such as colleges and universities to upskill staff to respond to disclosures and to create a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment. Colleges and universities were some of the first institutions to use anonymous reporting, and we’ve seen more organisations looking at this as a good practice example for introducing additional reporting routes while they build trust within the formal routes.
Close the Gap has seen changes in the work we do with employers. Through Equally Safe at Work accreditation, employers have developed standalone sexual harassment policies and started to openly discuss sexual harassment as an issue that needs to be addressed. Also, they’ve rolled out training for managers on how to respond to reports and disclosures and have looked at how to collect data on staff experiences of reporting.
Further work is needed for employers to understand what an intersectional approach looks like in their practice on preventing and addressing sexual harassment. Assuming a one size fits all approach to this work will fall short of delivering a safe workplace. It will inevitably overlook the compounding barriers experienced by racially minoritised women, disabled women, young women, and LGBTQ+ individuals, leaving them disproportionately vulnerable to sexual harassment.
What you can do
As we know, sexual harassment is not an isolated issue. It is a part of workplace culture, which is caused and reinforced by gender inequality, occupational segregation and unequal power dynamics that continues to characterise the labour market. By understanding how sexual harassment impacts women’s experiences at work, employers will be better able to support them and make their workplace safer.
Close the Gap offers practical tools and support to help employers stamp out sexual harassment and build a safer, more inclusive workforce. For the public and third sector, you can build capacity and improve working practice on sexual harassment by joining the Equally Safe at Work employer accreditation programme. As well, our Community of Practice peer support network offers the opportunity for employers to learn about criteria-related and specialist subjects with expert speakers, while also sharing best practice with employers across sectors.
Another important resource is the Think Business Think Equality toolkit which provides tailored support for small and medium sized businesses, and third sector organisations to improve their employment practice on sexual harassment.
For more information and support
If you have been affected by any of this content, or require further information or support, contact the organisations below. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it may be useful as a starting point and guide you to the right support.
Scottish Women’s Rights Centre
Monday 10am-12:30pm and Wednesday 10am-1pm
08088 010 789
Amina - The Muslim Women’s Resource Centre
Monday - Friday 10am-4pm
0808 801 0301
24-hour support
0141 353 0859
LGBT Health and Wellbeing Helpline
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 12-9pm and Sunday 1-6pm
0800 464 7000
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