After a successful pilot with five Jewish community organisations in 2019, Jewish Women’s Aid is delighted to be able to offer our Workplace Sexual Harassment Prevention Programme more widely, supported by the Jewish Leadership Council.

In July 2021 the Government committed to shift from an approach that seeks to minimise liability, to one that seeks to create organisational cultures and norms that prevent sexual harassment.

If you are a Jewish organisation and you want expert advice and support to prevent sexual harassment in your workplace, please be in touch. You can have a conversation with our Project Manager Emma Gray, to find out more about how we can work together.

Preventing sexual harassment is an aim of the programme, but more widely our goal is to create safe, respectful and productive workplaces in the UK Jewish community.

THE PROGRAMME

We offer three packages to community organisations, based on your needs, including:

• A confidential baseline staff survey
• Training
• Policy advice
• Mentoring

Jewish Women’s Aid will support organisations to understand the current culture felt by its staff, and provide you with the practical tools to respond to any existing issues and prevent sexual harassment in future. For full details, please contact Emma.

WHAT IS SEXUAL HARASSMENT?

Sexual harassment is a form of unlawful discrimination under the Equality Act 2010, and is any sexual behaviour that is unwanted, offensive, and that makes someone feel uncomfortable, intimidated, humiliated or scared. It can include:

• Comments or jokes of a sexual nature either in person or online
• Physical acts, including unwelcome sexual advances, touching and various forms of sexual assault;
• Receiving unwanted messages with material of a sexual nature, e.g . By text/messaging app, email, or social media
• Sexual coercion, where a person promises or hints at enhanced career prospects in return for a sexual favour, or threatens adverse career impact

Sexual harassment can happen to anyone at any time, in any place. This includes the workplace. The huge range of possible behaviours can make it difficult to pin down, but the most important thing is how it makes someone feel. If the behaviour is sexual in nature, unwelcome and makes someone feel offended or threatened, it is unacceptable.

We need to rethink how we approach sexual harassment, to bring about a change in the community to create a culture of consent.

USEFUL LINKS

Sexual Harassment Survey: Government Equalities Office, 2020

A report by the Fawcett Society (2020) on employer actions to prevent and respond to workplace sexual harassment

BeKavod, a similar Jewish community project running in New York

Sexual Harassment in the workplace 2017, BBC. A survey of UK adults, on behalf of the BBC, around attitudes towards sexual harassment in the workplace. Summarised here.

Two women's stories of sexual harassment in Jewish organisationsWOMEN'S STORIES

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