More than 120 female civil servants have said they have experienced sexual harassment at the Ministry of Defence or public sector defence agencies in a survey conducted by Prospect, the trade union.
Prospect found that 60% of the 200 female public sector workers in the defence industry who responded had personally experienced problems, while a similar number had witnessed sexual harassment.
Of the 100 private sector defence workers who responded, just under half said they had experienced sexual harassment.
Its members reported instances of rape and sexual assault in the workplace, receiving an unsolicited photo of a colleague’s penis, unwanted sexual advances, including from mentors, and insults relating to their appearance and sexuality as well as a lack of repercussions for offenders.
One MoD civil servant reported: “I have had to physically pull a colleague who was much larger and stronger than me off a female colleague. Because he was so strong I had to scratch and hit him to try and get him off. Throughout this my female colleague was crying and grasping for my hand. It was quite traumatising for the both of us – we were 19/20 years old at the time.
“When I told my manager about this she discouraged me from reporting it formally, and being so new to the organisation I trusted her so took it no further.”
Another said: “I have had my leg touched in the office by someone who was meant to be a mentor. He also shared inappropriate images and had a nickname about being creepy across numerous departments.”
A third female public sector working in a MoD arms-length agency said a senior male colleague kept catching her alone and making suggestive remarks.
“One day he cornered me in the office and tried to touch me. I pushed him away and he left. I then told my line manager who spoke to this man. This man had done this to many other women and had been reported. But, today, this man/offender is head of the profession where I work,” she said.
The union carried out the survey after about 60 senior women at the department wrote to the permanent secretary to the MoD, David Williams, in October with a joint letter that alleged sexual assault, harassment and abuse by male colleagues.
After that, Prospect wrote to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) asking for an investigation into whether the MoD was failing in its public sector equalities duty in relation to discrimination, harassment and victimisation.
The trade union’s survey was sent to about 3,000 of its members working in the defence industry or public sector, with a 10% response rate.
It found that 75% of the 300 members who responded said they had witnessed or experienced sexual harassment at least once a month with about 8% weekly, and almost 4% on a daily basis.
A third of respondents reported experiencing direct touching, one in five said they had received unwanted messages by text or email and 7% said they had been sexually assaulted.
The survey found that 45% of the 100 respondents working in the MoD said they had been sexually harassed by someone in a military grade. It found this was also a problem in employers with less interaction with military grades, including for 18% of respondents in MoD agencies and 15% in the private sector.
In relation to attitudes, 73% of respondents working at the MoD said behaviours that would be considered toxic and inappropriate in public life are tolerated in the defence sector, compared with 64% of respondents working in agencies and 61% in the private sector.
It found that 58% of respondents at the MoD were not confident that employers in the defence sector are taking effective action to deter sexual harassment at work, compared with 54% in agencies and 47% in the private sector.
Sue Ferns, the senior deputy general secretary of Prospect, said these were “extremely worrying findings which demonstrate just how bad sexual harassment is in the defence sector and particularly in the MoD”.
“It is absolutely clear that this type of toxic behaviour is seen to be tolerated by employers and often left unpunished,” she said.
“All employers but especially those in the public sector, which should be setting an example, should be doing everything they can to root out this type of serious misconduct. It must be made absolutely clear from the very top that there will be zero tolerance of sexual harassment, backed up by concrete action.”
John Healey, Labour’s shadow defence secretary, said the figures “shame” the MoD.
“Regrettably, this is more evidence of utterly unacceptable behaviour towards women in defence,” he said. “The defence secretary must take the lead and root this out.”
An MoD spokesperson said the department was committed to stamping out sexual harassment wherever it was found, describing it as “completely unacceptable”.
“We encourage anyone who has experienced or witnessed this kind of inexcusable conduct to report it immediately,” the spokesperson said.
“As part of our plan to address instances of unacceptable behaviour, we launched a review of our complaints procedure in consultation with external bodies, including trade unions who are able to input.”
