UNDERSTANDING AND ADDRESSING EVERYDAY SEXISMS
ADDRESSING EVERYDAY SEXISMS

REPORTING

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What happens when you report everyday sexisms?

  • "You are labelled as a problem when you report and get a reputation for being difficult, especially if you're a woman. Nothing changes, it gets to a point where it feels like a waste of time and energy to report things [...] you're reporting boys club attitudes to the boys club at the top."

    Woman, working in HASS

  • “I think that a lot of women, generally, 'tolerate' this kind of behaviour because they fear being positioned as a 'whiner', as 'not being able to cope' with the position if they complain; additionally I think many would think that there is 'no point' in formalising a complaint because nothing will be done about it - the woman becomes the problem rather than the perpetrator of the harassment.”

    Woman, working in HASS, parent/carer for children under 18 

  • “I feel like I have a limited number of times I can complain about these things. It's a fine and exhausting line between speaking up and advocating for myself and colleagues, and complaining too much and feeling like a "harpy", it feels like colleagues groan when I put up my hand to speak to these issues again. For my own wellbeing, I don't always complain.”

    Woman, working in psychology, parent/carer for child under 18

  • “I feel really bullied and have rasied this with HR but not formally as it would work against me. I believe strongly that it would result in my name being put on the trouble list and I would be next to be sacked.”

    Woman, working class background, working in HASS

The findings on reporting from the Understanding and Addressing Everyday Sexisms in Australian Universities project are unique in that the survey was directed at all academics, irrespective of gender. That women and gender diverse people have a complicated relationship to reporting experiences of sexisms at work through complaints processes is not new. At the end of this microcredential is a suggested reading list that contains examples of research in this regard.

The most famous example of research on reporting and complaint comes from the feminist writer and scholar Sara Ahmed.

“Our complaint files are full of what we have already noticed. The file ‘don’t go there’ tells us where we have been. A complaint file can be filled with the complaints we have but do not make, which is another way of thinking about how we carry our complaints, how complaints become heavy. But there can be a point we reach when it is too much; it is too hard, too heavy. A complaint might come out when we cannot keep hold of it, ourselves, the situation.”

— Sara Ahmed (2018). Complaint! p.118, Duke University Press

Button and Text Boxes
DON'T GO THERE
HOW COMPLAINTS
ARE CARRIED
TOO MUCH,
TOO HARD,
TOO HEAVY.
Hover over the drawers

HOW DO YOU REPORT EVERYDAY SEXISMS AT YOUR UNIVERSITY?

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