What is gendered violence?
Guidance on gendered violence in the working environment. This includes examples, who is most at risk and how it affects people.
Defining gendered violence
Gendered violence is any behaviour directed at, or affecting, a person because:
- of their:
- sex
- sexual orientation
- gender
- gender identity
- they do not adhere to socially prescribed gender roles.
It stems from entrenched gender or power inequalities and socially accepted ideas about:
- how people should look or act
- what characteristics they should have
- their roles in the workplace, home or public life.
Gendered violence comes in many forms. It can range from comments and gestures to physical assault. It can occur through virtual platforms. It can include:
- sexual harassment and assault
- physical assault
- offensive language and imagery
- verbal abuse
- innuendo, insinuations and put-downs
- stalking, intimidation or threats
- sexually explicit gestures
- ‘deadnaming’ someone by deliberately:
- misgendering them
- using incorrect pronouns
- not using their preferred name
- ostracism, exclusion, discrimination or victimisation.
- Simon and Joe’s story
Simon is a team supervisor at a medium-sized community organisation. One of his team members, Joe, is a transgender man. Before his transition, Joe told Simon that he would be making some important changes. He wanted to be assured that the workplace would be inclusive and safe. Simon supported Joe to talk with his co-workers about what pronouns he preferred. When Joe returned to work after his transition, Joe and Simon had another conversation with the team to reinforce how to refer to Joe.
A few months later, Simon notices that two team members are deliberately using Joe’s old name or the pronoun ‘her’ instead of his preferred name and pronouns. They even do this in front of clients. This makes Joe feel uncomfortable and embarrassed, and it confuses his clients. This means that Joe must often explain to clients that he is a transgender man. Joe feels less safe at work and worries a client may abuse or harm him if they know he is a transgender man.
Identifying the hazards and risks
Colleagues are repeatedly and deliberately ‘deadnaming’ Joe. This is gendered violence.
Learn how an employer can eliminate the risk of gendered violence.
Gendered violence can be a one-off incident or repeated behaviour. It may be directed at an individual or a group.
Someone might also experience gendered violence in an indirect way. This could happen if they:
- overhear a conversation or are part of a virtual discussion that affects their health and safety
- witness gendered violence directed at someone else.
Interaction with other psychosocial hazards
Employers should understand how gendered violence interacts with other psychosocial hazards. For example:
- bullying
- aggression or violence.
These hazards may be also be present, but if they come about because of gendered factors then they are also gendered violence.
This means that ‘gendered violence’ can be both:
- a hazard
- the underlying cause of other hazards.
Gendered violence in the working environment
Gendered violence in the working environment is when this type of behaviour happens:
- in the workplace, which is wherever an employee works for their employer
- where an employee is working remotely, including if the person’s workplace is:
- the employee’s home
- another person’s home, such as home visits or outreach work
- online
- at work-related meetings, activities or events, such as a work Christmas party
- between people who work together or share the same workplace
- by phone, email, social media or online through a work connection
- at employer-provided accommodation, such as fly-in fly-out sites or at work conferences.
Examples of gendered violence in the working environment include:
- An employee being directly or indirectly excluded from training or promotion opportunities based on their sex, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation.
- A manager applying workplace policies or procedures inconsistently according to an employee’s sex, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation.
- A caller using offensive sexual language with a call centre operator.
- An employer questioning or criticising an employee’s sexual orientation or appearance. This may be subtle or explicit.
- Someone displaying pornographic or sexist posters.
- People in the staff room making disparaging jokes about gay relationships. A gay colleague at a nearby table feels threatened and excluded.
- A pub owner telling female employees they must wear short skirts to look sexy for the patrons.
- Employees complaining about transgender staff using the gendered toilets.
- Colleagues ridiculing a male employee for taking parental leave.
Anyone can experience or engage in gendered violence. This can include:
- employees
- managers
- coworkers
- contractors
- site visitors
- clients/patients
- customers
- students
- volunteers
- members of the public.
- Gina’s story
Jan has dialysis at home three times a week. She is quite frail and depends on her son, Cam, to help her around the house. Cam is always present for her medical appointments.
Gina is the nurse who frequently visits Jan’s home to administer the dialysis. Cam is always very friendly and welcoming towards Gina. In the previous few visits, Gina has sometimes felt that Cam stands too close to her. He has also made subtle comments on her appearance, saying things like ‘That dress fits you well’ and ‘How do you get those long legs into such tight pants?’
During Gina’s last visit, Cam seemed to accidentally brush his hand across hers as he was helping to move his mother into a chair.
Gina has started to feel uncomfortable about attending these appointments. She mentions this to her supervisor.
Identifying hazards and risks
Gina is the target of verbalised sexual comments and unwanted contact from a patient’s family member. This is gendered violence.
Who is most at risk?
Anyone can experience gendered violence in the working environment. It is not limited to a particular sex, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation. But some people are more likely to experience it, including:
- women
- people who identify as non-binary
- people who are new to the workforce
- minors or young employees
- people who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and gender-diverse, Intersex, Queer and Asexual (LGBTIQA+).
- people who are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
- people with disability
- people who don’t follow socially prescribed gender roles and stereotypes. These are traditional ideas about:
- how men and women should look or act
- what characteristics they should have
- their roles in the workplace, home or public life
- culturally and racially marginalised people
- migrant workers
- people holding temporary visas
- people in insecure working arrangements such as fixed-term, casual or labour hire
- apprentices.
- Jai’s story
Jai works for a company that installs industrial windows. He is in the third year of his carpentry apprenticeship. Part of the job involves heavy lifting. There is a policy that four employees should carry large windows. However, when work is busy and crew numbers are low on weekends, it is common that fewer than four employees will lift the large windows.
Jai has had his back go out while working three times in the last 18 months. Each time, his leading hand has told him not to bother filling out an incident report and Jai has taken a few sick days off to sort it out.
Jai is doing overtime on a Saturday when his leading hand asks him to lift a large window with only one other person. Jai says he is not keen to do it with only one person. The leading hand yells out that he is weak and calls him a ‘soft c**k’, while his workmates stand by, all laughing.
Jai knows that if his back goes out again, he will have to use up the last of his sick leave. He worries that he will have to stop his apprenticeship if this keeps happening. Despite this, Jai feels embarrassed he brought it up and does the heavy lift.
Identifying hazards and risks
Jai is the subject of verbal abuse and is ridiculed (or humiliated) because of socially accepted or dominant gender norms. This is gendered violence.
Employees under 18
Employees aged under 18 may be more at risk of gendered violence. This is because:
- Gendered violence can happen if there is a power imbalance. Younger people may be structurally disempowered because they:
- need to stay employed to become qualified
- are casual employees who may lose shifts if they make a report.
- Young people may not recognise harmful behaviour or be confident to call it out.
If someone sees or experiences harassment or discrimination early in their career, they may think it is ‘normal’. This belief may be confirmed if no one else comments or calls it out.
Sexual behaviour directed at young employees may be a child-based sexual offence. Children often see grooming behaviours as friendship and may not identify the risks. Employers who have employees under the age of 18 must:
- Identify the hazards they may be exposed to and the likely risks of harm.
- Use reasonably practicable control measures to eliminate or reduce the risks. For example:
- Require relevant employees to have a Working with Children Check.
- Don’t assign young employees to certain tasks or ask them to work alone.
- Provide extra supervision.
- Offer training on harmful workplace behaviour, including gendered violence. This should cover what to do if someone’s behaviour makes them feel uncomfortable.
If an employer suspects an employee under 18 is the target of sexual behaviour, they should consider whether to contact Child Protection or Victoria Police. Employers or employees may also have mandatory reporting obligations.
Find out more about mandatory reporting at the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.
Compounding risk factors
Different aspects of a person’s identity can expose them to overlapping forms of discrimination and marginalisation. This is known as ‘intersectionality’ and may be because of factors such as:
- sex at birth
- gender identity
- sexual orientation
- being Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
- being culturally and racially marginalised
- migrant worker status
- disability
- literacy levels
- insecure work such as casual, fixed-term, labour-hire or part-time work.
These compounding factors can increase the risk of someone experiencing gendered violence in the working environment. They can also make people less likely to report gendered violence.
Workplace risk factors
Some workplaces may have characteristics that increase the risk of gendered violence. They may also create barriers to reporting. These characteristics can include:
- Organisational culture, such as:
- tolerance of casual sexist, homophobic or transphobic comments. Transphobia is any negative feeling, behaviour or language directed at transgender people because of their gender identity
- intentionally or unintentionally distributing work based on traditional gendered roles
- a workforce that is segregated by gender, has low diversity or is dominated by one gender, age group, race or culture
- workplace leaders with poor understanding of the nature, drivers and effects of gendered violence
- behaviours, systems and structures that support or condone sexism, homophobia and transphobia
- a workplace with no formal or appropriate reporting procedures, or employees don’t know about them.
- The type of work being done, for example:
- personal care work where an employee needs to touch a client
- work traditionally done by one gender
- employees who interact with members of the public.
- The design of work, for example:
- working at night, alone or in licensed venues
- working from remote locations with limited supervision, such as fly-in-fly-out workers or airline crew
- attending work functions or travelling for work
- working at residential premises
- employees who have restricted access to help and support.
- The system of work, for example:
- unsafe procedures for opening and closing the workplace
- lack of policy and procedure to manage customers or employees who engage in harmful behaviour
- inadequate supervision for new or young workers
- requiring employees to wear a name tag or inappropriate uniform items
- requiring employees to use their personal phone numbers for work.
- Management of work, for example:
- inadequate resourcing for the work being performed
- rigid or rigidly enforced hierarchical management structures
- insecure work.
- The physical or virtual environment of the workplace, for example:
- lack of obvious CCTV or partition screens to act as a deterrent
- no appropriate moderation of comments on online forums or platforms.
- Zoya’s story
Zoya works as a traffic controller for a small labour hire company. The nature of her job means that she works in different locations in public areas. This means that Zoya often doesn’t know where she will be working day to day and what facilities will be available.
In her first week working on a busy road, Zoya asks her male colleagues where she can use the bathroom. They all laugh and walk off. Zoya hears one of them say ‘And this is why you can’t have chicks on site’.
Later, Zoya asks her supervisor where she can use the bathroom. Her supervisor says, ‘I dunno, the guys go on site. There’s a servo down the road – see if you can use theirs. But you’ll have to wait for your break’. Zoya’s break isn’t for an hour and she starts to feel uncomfortable from cramps. She is too afraid to ask to be replaced while she walks to the service station.
On her break, Zoya rushes down the road to use the toilet at the service station. It is dirty and doesn’t have a proper sanitary bin or soap. She is 10 minutes late getting back to her post. Her supervisor yells at her for holding everyone up. Zoya feels humiliated and teary that everyone knows why she was late.
When she gets home, Zoya feels sick and worried about what she will do tomorrow and the next time she gets her period.
Identifying hazards and risks
Zoya experiences ostracism, exclusion, discrimination and victimisation based on her gender. This is gendered violence.
Learn how an employer can eliminate the risk of gendered violence.
How does it affect people?
Gendered violence can cause physical and psychological harm to:
- the person it is directed at
- anyone witnessing or experiencing the behaviour indirectly.
This can lead to significant social and economic costs for:
- the affected employee
- other employees
- employers
- the wider community.
Impact on the affected employee
Gendered violence can affect people in different ways. Some examples of the impacts include:
- feelings of fear, shock and distress, hurt or humiliation
- loss of confidence and withdrawal
- impact on personal and family relationships
- lower job satisfaction and ability to work
- negative effect on career aspirations, goals or progress
- financial loss or economic disadvantage from:
- taking leave
- leaving a job
- seeking legal advice
- psychological injuries or illnesses such as:
- depression
- anxiety
- acute stress disorder
- post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- physical injuries or illnesses such as:
- cardiovascular disease
- musculoskeletal disorders
- immune deficiency
- gastrointestinal disorders
- injuries from an assault.
- Paolo’s story
Paolo is employed in the construction industry. His workmates are all male. He enjoys living a healthy lifestyle, which includes being a vegetarian. He finds it difficult to find healthy food near his worksite, so he brings in his own lunch. His workmates laugh at him every day and find it amusing to make jokes about his ‘fancy’ vegetarian lunches. They tell him that real men eat meat, and suggest he is either gay or too easily influenced by his girlfriend. Paolo is teased and questioned regularly about being vegetarian.
Paolo begins to dread lunch time and tries to find somewhere alone to eat his lunch. He even skips lunches some days to avoid the teasing. Eventually, the teasing and name-calling seeps into other hours of the working day, so he approaches his boss about the issue. Paolo’s boss says, ‘They're just having a joke’ and he ‘should toughen up’. Paolo feels unsupported and eventually quits his job.
Identifying hazards and risks
Paolo is the subject of verbal abuse and ridicule because of socially accepted or dominant gender standards. He also experiences ostracism, exclusion, discrimination and victimisation based on his gender. This is gendered violence and may be bullying.
- Ruthie’s story
Separate to her day job, Ruthie is also a social media influencer. She runs a public and popular TikTok account where she posts pictures of herself in bikinis. She is proud of it as she has a lot of followers and even gets sponsorship deals. Ruthie has always kept her account a secret from her workmates as she knows they may make fun of her for it.
Ruthie eventually tells a good and trusted friend at work about her account. She asks him not to tell anyone. This friend shares the account with another workmate who doesn’t keep it secret. By the end of the week, the account has been shared both with internal colleagues and people from other companies Ruthie works with. Ruthie’s workmates start commenting on her posts, and making sexual comments about her body and personal life.
Ruthie feels humiliated, becomes very anxious about going to work and fears working with certain people. She starts calling in sick. Eventually it gets too much for her, and she leaves her job and industry.
Identifying hazards and risks
Ruthie has been the target of verbalised sexual comments from colleagues based on her gender. This is gendered violence.
Impacts on the employer and workplace
Gendered violence also has implications for the employer and working environment. Some examples of the impacts include:
- high turnover and poor staff retention, leading to higher recruitment costs
- reduced morale and productivity
- increased absenteeism
- direct and indirect costs of investigations and procedures to address reported allegations
- reputational damage.
Employers have a positive duty to:
- not engage in discrimination or sexual harassment
- take reasonable steps to address these behaviours.
See Understanding psychosocial hazards and your legal duties for more information .