An estimated 1.7 million Australian adults (8.7 per cent) experienced sexual harassment in 2021-22, according to information from the Personal Safety Survey (PSS) released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
In the PSS, sexual harassment was considered to have occurred if a person was subjected to behaviours that made them feel uncomfortable and were offensive due to their sexual nature.
Will Milne, ABS head of crime and justice statistics, said: “The survey results showed that 1.3 million women and nearly half a million men experienced sexual harassment in 2021-22.”
Women were more likely to experience sexual harassment by a male (1.2 million) than a female (110,900). Whereas men were about as likely to experience sexual harassment by a male (310,800) as by a female (250,400).
Nearly half (45 per cent) of the 1.3 million women who experienced sexual harassment in the last 12 months experienced multiple sexual harassment behaviours.
“Receiving inappropriate comments about their body or sex life was the most widely reported behaviour, experienced by 800,000 women,” said Mr Milne.
“Half a million women received an indecent text, email, or post, while 400,000 were subjected to unwanted touching or grabbing.”
Women who experienced sexual harassment were more likely to experience it by a known person (63 per cent) than by a stranger (55 per cent).
“The survey found that an estimated 330,000 women were sexually harassed by someone who they had a work or professional relationship with, and 320,000 experienced it in person at their workplace.”
“We would like to thank those who took part in this survey by sharing their experiences and helping inform our understanding of sexual harassment in Australia,” Mr Milne said.
If you or anyone you know is in need or crisis, please call the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or Lifeline (13 11 14).
Grab 1
Our results from the Personal Safety Survey found that about 1.3 million women and nearly half a million men experienced sexual harassment in 2021-22.
What we are talking about here are the types of behaviours which made people feel uncomfortable due to their sexual nature – so things like grabbing, touching and making inappropriate comments
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For the first time we asked about how and where people experienced sexual harassment, and we found that during 2021-22 about 900,000 women experienced sexual harassment face-to-face, and that included 320,000 in their own workplace.
Furthermore, we found that 700,000 women were being sexually harassed electronically – and we are talking about through emails, text messages and social media.
