Review into the treatment of women at the Australian Defence Force ...

Chapter 10: Minimising Risk, Managing Incidents and Ensuring the Safety of the Workplace – Recommendations 22-31The issues identified in the 2011 survey were:1. The multiple approaches used to measure prevalence2. Inability of the survey to account for context 83. Critiques of the Sexual Experiences Questionnaire component4. Perceived lack of anonymity on account of demographic information collected5. Lack of ability to capture detailed follow up information.The changes made to the 2012 survey were:1. Grouping the items from the 2011 (approximately 50) survey into 13 broad categories 92. Explicitly adding context notes (e.g. ‘that made you feel offended’) to each item3. Addition of behaviour domain items, to identify where unacceptable behaviour was occurring4. Removal of demographic items, so only gender, Service, academic year and age group arenow collected.5. Follow up questions about each unacceptable behaviour (rather than just one), and less ofthem each time (11 as opposed to 25 in 2011).The 2012 survey appears to be an improvement on the 2011 survey in a number of areas. Thesubstantial methodological and structural changes made mean that the 2012 data cannot accurately becompared to previous versions. 102012 ADFA Unacceptable Behaviour Survey ResultsThe 2012 ADFA Unacceptable Behaviour Survey found that:• Three-in-five women (60.9%) and one-in-three men (34.5%) have experienced behaviour thatthey found ‘unwelcome, inappropriate or offensive’ at ADFA in the last 12 months.• One-in-four women (27.4%) and one-in-fifteen men (6.8%) experienced sexual harassment‘that they found unwelcome, inappropriate or offensive’ in the last twelve months. 11• One-in-twelve women (8.2%) and one-in-thirty men (3.3%) experienced a sexual offencebehaviour in the last twelve months. 12• Female respondents reported experiencing most categories of unacceptable behaviour atmuch higher rates than men (see figure 1 below).• Unacceptable behaviour was most likely to be reported as occurring in the residentialaccommodation (45.3% women, 19.8% men) and ADFA military training domain (38.3% ofwomen, 17.8% of men).• Women were more likely than men to have found their reported experience of unacceptablebehaviour to be offensive or intimidating.• Both women and men were more likely to report multiple experiences of harassment asopposed to it being a one off.• A majority of respondents who had experienced unacceptable behaviour did not seek anyadvice or support. Just 27.1% of women and 6% of men who reported experiencing sexualharassment/offence behaviours sought advice or support.• A majority of respondents who had experienced unacceptable behaviour did not make acomplaint about the behaviour to anyone.• The 2012 results about opinion are difficult to interpret on account of changed methodology,but they indicate a possible decline in positive attitudes. For example in 2012 41.7% ofwomen and 22.3% of men agreed that people who harass others at ADFA usually get awaywith it, while in 2011 only 15.8% of women and 12.1% of men agreed.106