And respect, equity, and civility matter in the workplace as they do in wider society. This starts with the leadership of the organisation, the example they give and the policies they put in place.
"This training cannot be a tick box exercise and the organisation must ensure it recognises the importance of providing appropriate and regular training on this policy." "A positive culture is one of openness where people’s talents and contributions are recognised. It is also where employees are comfortable raising issues of concern to them, especially of inappropriate behaviours and where there are supportive, effective and fair processes underpinning this in place.
"In a society where the rights and potential of women are constrained, no man can be truly free. He may have power, but he will not have freedom." Prof Cross said the most important change many organisations have undertaken is the measurement of the outcomes of sexism across different levels of the organisation.
Other efforts an organisation can take in the recruitment and selection of new employees is to ensure there is a gender balance on the interview panel, both in terms of the number of interviewers and the candidates being interviewed. Harassment is any unwanted conduct that takes place with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person and of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.If an employee is subjected to harassment, whether a joke or something more overt, what should they do?
"Every employee should be aware of and have access to the company policy so that they can raise their concern or complaint to the appropriate persons in the organisation."