Over decades working in women's health I've noticed a familiar pattern. When women are harassed, they often manage the problem quietly.

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They adjust their behaviour, avoid certain colleagues, or change the way they dress or speak. They do this because the personal cost of speaking up can be high and the likelihood of meaningful action often feels low.

But our Being an Ethical Bystander survey has revealed a big opportunity for change. A sizeable portion of people want to call out or challenge harassment, but they don't feel equipped to do so.

More than half of the 940 essential workers we surveyed had witnessed sexual or gender-based harassment at work, yet most did not intervene. Overwhelmingly, they did care about the impact on the bad behaviour on their colleague. But they didn't intervene because they were unsure of how to do so and feared the consequences of stepping in.

This critical finding tells us harassment is not occurring in a vacuum but in front of colleagues who want to help but don't feel equipped or protected.

And it's why we need explicit legal protections for ethical bystanders to be enshrined in legislation.

Currently, workers who call out harassment can face subtle forms of punishment: being taken off shifts, sidelined from projects, excluded from decision-making. These behaviours fall into a grey zone that workers know exists but the law doesn't yet adequately address.

Legislating protections for ethical bystanders would make clear that speaking........

© Canberra Times