Flintshire politician shares own experience of workplace sexual harassment

A Senedd member shared her own experience of sexual harassment in the workplace as she urged ministers to accelerate action to stamp out the blight on society.

Labour’s Hannah Blythyn said much of the evidence and experience of women makes clear that no workplace is immune from sexual harassment.

Ms Blythyn recalled attending her first big conference as a young and enthusiastic activist, telling the Senedd: “I was introduced to somebody who was then very senior in the trade union movement: they looked me up and down and said ‘oh, if I was 20 years younger’.

“At the time, I was so fresh to the scene that I didn’t know who they were so I replied with ‘if you were 20 years younger, you still wouldn’t have a chance’.

“The issue then was that person walked away but the people around me actually said to me, ‘I can’t believe you said that to him’.”

Power Dynamics

Ms Blythyn said she could raise other examples of sexual harassment since she stood for election “or that have been locked deep in my brain for decades”.

Leading a debate on March 5 ahead of Saturday’s International Women’s Day, she said: “I’ve shared what I have today simply because I think it demonstrates that real challenge of cultural change, power dynamics and the attitudes of so-called bystanders.”

She called for access to counselling services, legal assistance, confidential reporting and a hard-hitting public campaign aimed at making sexual harassment as taboo as drink driving.

Ms Blythyn said: “Tribunals are currently costly, which acts as an added deterrent. This needs reviewing because it cannot be the case that wealth wins in this respect.”

The Delyn Senedd member, who chairs the standards of conduct committee, vowed to strengthen the Welsh Parliament’s processes for dealing with sexual harassment.

Major Issue

Plaid Cymru’s Sioned Williams said: “That power imbalance you talked of which plays such a huge role in sexual harassment, of course, is very much present in this place and in politics.”

Jenny Rathbone, who represents Cardiff Central, warned sexual harassment is an everyday occurrence at entertainment venues in the city.

“Exploitation of women continues to be a major issue,” she said, calling for additional training for permanent and temporary staff such as bouncers.

Joyce Watson, also a Labour backbencher, said sexual harassment remains underreported, with victims believing making a report will make problems worse or be completely ignored.

She said: “My call today will be to protect the whistleblower … unless they know they’re protected, they’re not going to call it out which is ultimately what they would want to do.”

Truly Unacceptable

Jack Sargeant, the Welsh Government minister responsible for fair work, thanked Ms Blythyn for sharing her truly unacceptable experience.

Mr Sargeant said the UK Worker Protection Act, which came into force in October, places a proactive duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment.

He added that the UK employment rights bill will strengthen the duty and extend the liability to include cases of staff being harassed by third parties such as customers or clients.

He told the Senedd: “We recognise that where we are now is not where we need to be, we have seen too many shocking and unacceptable examples of sexual harassment at work, including in some devolved public sector bodies.

“Let me be clear: there is no room for sexual harassment in workplaces nor anywhere else in Wales. This is a critical issue. We will continue to work tirelessly to accelerate our action to prevent and address sexual harassment in the workplace across Wales.”

By Chris Haines, ICNN Senedd reporter