Protecting women’s safety in the workplace

Since October 2024, employers have been under a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees, alongside a common law duty to take reasonable care for the safety of their employees. So, what steps should employers be taking?

Despite legislation and increased awareness, women still encounter numerous challenges that undermine their sense of security and well-being at work. According to research, one in ten women concerned about their personal safety say they have been harassed while commuting or traveling for work, and 16% deal with customers or clients who have harassed them or behaved in a way that has made them feel uncomfortable. Nearly one in ten have been harassed by a colleague and a quarter of women say that people in senior positions have made inappropriate comments or actions towards them.

Common challenges

The first step for employers to take when considering how best to protect women at work is to identify the risks that they face. These include for example:

• bullying and harassment: women are too often subject to bullying and harassment at work. Bullying covers any offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour that can make a person feel vulnerable, upset, humiliated or undermined. Harassment occurs where a person engages in unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic (in this case sex) and that conduct has the purpose or effect of violating another person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them. Examples include jokes at the expense of women, demeaning comments directed at women, overbearing and intimidating levels of supervision of female staff and deliberately excluding women from meetings or networking events. Where bullying and/or harassment take place, such conduct can impact mental health of the recipient as well as reduce their productivity and increase absenteeism
• sexual harassment: sexual harassment occurs where the unwanted conduct is of a sexual nature and it continues to be an issue in workplaces, a situation which the government has tried to address by introducing the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023. This Act places a duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of employees in the course of their employment. Importantly, this includes not just sexual harassment by colleagues but also by third parties such as customers or supplier
• physical assault: women are more susceptible to physical assaults than their male counterparts, particularly in industries like retail, healthcare and service sector
• inappropriate safety equipment: safety equipment is often designed for male workers in industries predominated by men, such as construction or manufacturing. Women often have to make do with ill-fitting protective clothing subjecting them to a higher risk of injury at work

What steps can employers take?

There are many ways in which employers can support female workers and provide a safe environment for them to work in. For example, they can:

• implement strict anti-harassment policies. These should define what constitutes harassment as well as sexual harassment, provide a mechanism for reporting issues and ensure complaints are addressed promptly and confidentially
• carry out a risk assessment to identify the specific threats to women’s safety in their working environment and consider the steps that can be taken to reduce this risk. For instance, do female members of staff have to work alone or at night? Are they on secondment or based at client sites? If so, can a check in system be put in place or transport arranged for the journey home?
• conduct regular training and awareness sessions to educate employees about the importance of a gender-inclusive workplace. For instance, these can address unconscious biases and teach employees to recognise and report inappropriate behaviour. Encourage male colleagues to be allies and challenge misogynistic comments or actions
• ensure premises and work arrangements are as safe as possible including considerations about journeys to work, facilities to park at or near work and access into and out of buildings
• provide a means for individuals to confidentially report concerns around safety, whether that is on their own behalf or for others
• check in with women’s networks and colleagues about how they are feeling and listen to their experiences and concerns about safety and act on suggestions that are made.

In a world where we are seeing rollbacks in DE&I initiatives (Will the rolling back of DEI initiatives in the US impact organisations in the UK), there is a danger that fewer resources are available to protect women at work. Given the recent legislation on sexual harassment and the proposals to extend the reach of this legislation, it is hoped that in the UK at least, organisations will continue to invest in measures which support the safety of their female workforce.