More than half of university students in Australia were sexually harassed last year and 7 percent sexually assaulted on at least one occasion, a “disturbing” new national study revealed yesterday.
The findings came in an Australian Human Rights Commission report, conducted on behalf of the country’s 39 universities, that questioned more than 30,000 students,after years of activism by women’s groups to discover the extent of the problem.
Women were three times as likely as men to be sexually assaulted and almost twice as likely to be sexually harassed, either on-campus, traveling to and from the university or at off-campus events endorsed by the institution.
“The unavoidable conclusion of the data ... is that incidents of sexual assault and sexual harassment are occurring at unacceptable rates at Australian universities,” Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins said. “While anybody can experience sexual assault or sexual harassment, it is clear from the data that women at university experience these behaviors at disproportionately higher rates than men.”
“This adds weight to the body of evidence that highlights disturbing rates of sexual violence against women in Australia,” she added.
The report said almost one-third of the harassment occurred on university grounds or in teaching spaces, while one in five of the assaults happened at a university or residence social event.
Australian universities, which have more than 1 million students enrolled, are hugely popular with international students.
Many of those affected — including international students — did not formally report the incident, with the vast majority saying their university did not do enough to provide clear direction on what to do and where to seek support.
The report made nine recommendations, including the need to change attitudes and behavior and to ensure an independent and systemic review of how universities respond.
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