Support for Sexual Harassment Prevention Campaign

24/09/01

Support for Sexual Harassment Prevention Campaign

Controversy surrounding the Human Rights Commission’s recent Sexual Harassment Prevention Campaign helped to generate a high level of discussion on the issue.

Chief Human Rights Commissioner Rosslyn Noonan said that calls to the Commission’s InfoLine increased by almost 100% in the week of the campaign, an additional 650 employers kits were requested on top of the 5000 kits sent out and website activity also increased.

“The keen public response to the campaign shows that our aim to raise awareness about the issue of sexual harassment – particularly in the hospitality industry and for young people – has succeeded” said Ms.Noonan.

“The most meaningful feedback came from people experiencing sexual harassment who felt that the campaign provided them with some support to deal with the problem themselves”.

One of the new strategies the Commission used to directly engage with young people was to host a lunch discussion involving youth representatives and the media.

“Valuable feedback gained from young people participating in the lunch helped to identify what sexual harassment meant to them and how they felt the issue should be tackled” said Ms.Noonan.

“These results and the expected increase in activity around sexual harassment awareness emphasize to us that the provocative nature of the campaign was worthwhile”.

Some complaints about the campaign ads have been received by the Commission. Most were from chefs or employers who felt that they were unfairly stereotyped. The Commission has met with chefs employer groups to discuss their concerns and to work out ways of developing appropriate sexual harassment prevention strategies together.

Released by the Human Rights Commission. For further details call Miriam Bell, Human Rights Commission Communications Officer on 025 313 239 or 09 375 8627.

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