SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE WORKPLACE AND CONCILIATED OUTCOMES: WHO REALLY BENEFITS?

Abstract

This paper examines the role of conciliation in resolving complaints of sexual harassment in the workplace. It analyses the experience of a small group of women who lodged complaints of sexual harassment and were assisted through a conciliation process by the Queensland Working Women's Service in 2007–08. It provides an overview of the literature surrounding female engagement with alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and traces the origins of the ADR movement. Concerns are raised about the appropriateness of handling sexual harassment through conciliation and about who really benefits from conciliation. This paper considers the validity of the belief that women are comfortable with and less vulnerable in conciliatory dispute resolution processes, as ADR is suggested to be more compatible with ‘female’ ways of communicating, and considers whether the original aims of ADR and the actual experiences of women are reconcilable.