263

of 500 signatures

To Rt Honourable Kemi Badenoch MP, Secretary of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy

Open letter text

For thousands of women across the UK, sexism, harassment and misogyny are all too familiar parts of our lives at work. As women and allies, we're writing to you to ask that as Business Secretary, you take urgent action to stem this gross misconduct.

Of Organise members polled, 60% reported being sexually harassed multiple times at work, while 69% have been sexually harassed at least once. Members reported being touched, propositioned, objectified and sexualised, being forcibly shown nude images – the workplace stories go on and on and on.

And what our stories have in common is that this behaviour is rarely taken seriously or dealt with appropriately. We believe more needs to be done to stop sexual harassment, misogyny, and sexism at work.

This is a widespread issue and cannot simply be dealt with on a case by case, or company by company basis – it's a systemic problem that requires government intervention and accountability.

That's why we're asking you to create a set of principles about how companies must deal with sexual harassment, misogyny, and sexism at work. Similar to gender pay gap reporting, we think the government should be holding companies to account and setting high standards.

Here are the principles we'd like to see:

1) Companies should adopt government-approved definitions of sexism, sexual harassment, and misogyny, to make clear what constitutes such behaviour

2) Training for all staff on anti-harassment as part of their induction, with regular "refresher" courses

3) A clearly communicated, safe, and robust reporting process for victims

4) Firm and proportionate disciplinary action for perpetrators of sexism, sexual harassment, and misogyny

5) A legal requirement to include details of upheld sexism, sexual harassment and misogyny complaints on references

6) Annual reporting on the proportion of upheld sexism, sexual harassment and misogyny complaints from large companies

You can see the full results of the survey to Organise members here: https://the.organise.network/surveys/sexism-at-work-survey/results/public

We look forward to hearing from you and working together to address this important issue.

Signed:
Ashleigh Barnes, designer and business owner

Sign the open letter

Signers list

Diana Czwartacki
Elaine Hickling
Vanessa Johnson
Maria Schunter
Harry Singh
Maude Dews
Jan Underwood
Susan Bittker
Veronica Ambler
Ann Bloxwich
Jill Bennett
Sara Bellisio
Charlotte Cantrell
Rosalind Herbert
Gina Neil
Alison Ackroyd
Chloe Green
Maureen Mckeown
Paula Murray
Carina Secker
Helen D-B
Julie Robinson
Pauline Leyden Is
Sarah Hanks
Lynda Spittle
Jayne Linney
Maggie D’Silva
Bukky Oshikoya
Thomas Mccoid
Mr Rodney A Ridge
Natalie Kirman
Dorothy Bates
Amy Spencer
Yasmin Dubash
Andy Meikle
Sarah Mcrobert
Paula Viles
Rachel Shimbles
Camille Humphrey
Samantha Cooch
Lorraine Dormann
Chris Skrytek
Kate Longthorne
Helen Folkes
Gemma Sheldon
Jasmin Dring
Diana Proudfoot
Adena Scarlett
Donna
Joshim Ali

Hold Companies Accountable for Sexism, Sexual Harassment, and Misogyny in the Workplace.

Next step - spread the word

You're signing this as

Not you? Click here

Hold Companies Accountable for Sexism, Sexual Harassment, and Misogyny in the Workplace.

Will you chip in?

I'm chipping in £0

Secure lock symbol

Your donation is

One off Monthly

Choose your contribution amount

£200

Thanks, we just need a few more details to set up your direct debit.

Change your contribution amount

First name
Last name
Your email
Address (line 1)
Town
Your postcode
Account name
Account number
Sort code
Thank you for your donation. Please hold on while we process your details securely.