The New Women's Association announced today (24th) the results of the "Research Report on the Review of Anti-Sexual Harassment Policies in Colleges and Universities (2020/21)". The average compliance rate of the eight colleges and universities was 78.2%, which was slightly lower than the results of the previous survey. The overall compliance rate of self-financing institutions rose to 54%.
Women's Progress made a number of suggestions to tertiary institutions, including that institutions should revise the coverage of the policy to include part-time staff and prospective students, and should not be limited to cases that occurred on campus, and improve the complaint procedure from a user-friendly perspective.
The New Women's Association announced today (24th) the results of the "Research Report on the Review of Anti-Sexual Harassment Policies in Colleges and Universities (2020/21)". The average compliance rate of the eight colleges and universities was 78.2%, which was slightly lower than the results of the previous survey. The overall compliance rate of self-financing institutions rose to 54%.
(Photo by Lu Ningmin)
This research on women's advancement was funded by the "2020/21 Equal Opportunity Research Project Funding Scheme" of the Equal Opportunities Commission. From March to June last year, a 43-item checklist was used to examine and compare the written policies against sexual harassment of various tertiary institutions , the inspection list includes four parts: policy statement, policy content, complaint handling procedures and policy implementation. The objects include eight institutions funded by the University Grants Committee, and 33 self-financing institutions. There were 25 responses from funding institutions, and the assessments were classified as "attained", "partially met" and "not met".
Group Amends Two Parts to Raise Standards
The results of the study showed that the average of the overall compliance rate of the eight institutions was 78.2%, a slight decrease compared to the 2017/18 survey.
In the "Complaint Handling Procedures" of the Eighth Congress this time, "Statistical Statistics and Announcement", "Whether persons outside the institution are allowed to accompany all procedures", "Will there be interpretation arrangements for ethnic minorities" and "Arrangements for complainants to inquire about cases" Many institutions failed to meet the standards, and the “policy implementation” mainly failed to meet the standards in the “regular review of policy provisions”.
Dr. Sun Jue, the moderator of the research team and a lecturer in the Department of Humanities and Creative Writing at HKBU, pointed out that due to the revisions made in the "Complaint Handling Procedure" and "Policy Implementation" sections of this study, the standards have been raised, resulting in a drop in the compliance rate of the eight universities. It is emphasized that with the revision of relevant legislation, policies and investigations need to be updated in a timely manner.
Dr. Sun Jue (middle), the moderator of the research team and a lecturer in the Department of Humanities and Creative Writing at HKBU, pointed out that due to the revisions made in the "Complaint Handling Procedure" and "Policy Implementation" sections of this study, the standards have been raised, resulting in the compliance rate of the eight universities. Decline, she stressed that as relevant legislation is revised, policies and investigations also need to be updated in a timely manner.
(Photo by Lu Ningmin)
It is difficult for self-financing institutions to formulate relevant policies
The overall compliance rate of self-financing institutions increased slightly from 49.2% in the previous survey to 54%, and the response rate was only 10 more than the last time. However, there are considerable differences in the compliance rates among self-financing institutions. Institutions with the Ministry’s anti-sexual harassment policy have a higher compliance rate, with some institutions scoring as high as 90.7%, while institutions with self-defined policies generally have a lower compliance rate, with some institutions only achieving 18.6%, reflecting that self-financing institutions are developing anti- Sexual harassment policy is more difficult.
According to Fu Jin, there are still three colleges out of the eight major universities that have not listed the most serious punishment for sexual harassment as termination of employment contract, while less than 40% of self-financing colleges have listed it, and they have not considered sexual harassment cases outside the campus. For same-sex sexual harassment, it is recommended that colleges and universities indicate the serious consequences of sexual harassment.
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According to Fu Jin, there are still three colleges out of the eight major universities that have not listed the most serious punishment for sexual harassment as termination of employment contract, while less than 40% of self-financing colleges have listed it, and they have not considered sexual harassment cases outside the campus. For same-sex sexual harassment, it is recommended that colleges and universities indicate the serious consequences of sexual harassment.
Promoting improvement of complaint procedures from the perspective of users
Women's Progress made a number of suggestions to tertiary institutions, including that institutions should revise the coverage of the policy and expand the policy application to part-time employees, outsourced employees, prospective employees, prospective students, volunteers and interns, etc. The scope should not be limited to incidents on campus.
In addition, institutions should improve their complaint procedures from the perspective of users. For example, after filing a complaint, they should obtain arrangements to separate the complainant and the complainant, and ensure that the arrangement will not make the situation of the complainant worse, allowing non-institutional complaints. Accompanying the victim to attend the hearing or other procedures, etc., should also accept oral complaints and assist ethnic minorities who are unfamiliar with Chinese and English to take notes.
Zhu Chongwen, Executive Director (Operations) of the Equal Opportunities Commission, said that students face an unequal power structure on campus, and they may not dare to complain when they encounter sexual harassment incidents.
(Photo by Lu Ningmin)
Zhu Chongwen, Executive Director (Operations) of the Equal Opportunity Commission, said that students are faced with an unequal power structure on campus. If they encounter sexual harassment or dare not complain, the EOC will hold a closed-door meeting with representatives of the eight universities to provide relevant anti-sexual harassment policies. 's assistance.
He also reminded tertiary institutions that it is necessary to improve their anti-sexual harassment policies, because in addition to complaining about the alleged perpetrators, complainants can also file complaints against related institutions, “Employers should be clear that they have the responsibility to formulate anti-sexual harassment policies, otherwise they may face legal liability. "
The survey revealed that 40% of the interviewed teenagers had been subjected to virtual sexual harassment. 1 in 5 children was cyberbullied. Equal chance: 1 in 8 had been sexually harassed in the workplace. Continuously sending out dating invitations or banning one-third of the interviewed women in the workplace experienced sexual harassment Federation of Trade Unions Promoting the Deterrent Power of the Sex Discrimination Ordinance
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