Aviation sector riddled with sexual harassment of women workers, new survey finds

Over a third of women working in the United Kingdom and Ireland’s aviation sector have been sexually assaulted in the workplace, a new survey has found. Trade union, Unite, asked its 30,000 women in air transport whether they had been victims of sexual harassment in their job, on their commute, or from co-workers, whether inside or outside scheduled hours.

The results show that 34% of women employees, from cabin crew to desk staff and baggage handlers, have been sexually assaulted in their place of work. What’s more, the majority of those said such assaults were not one-offs, with nearly half (47%) having been assaulted twice, and over a third (34%) describing it as happening more than once.

In addition, 11% said they had experienced sexual coercion at work, which is defined as the use of pressure, threatening behaviour or trickery, alcohol, drugs, or force, to create sexual contact with someone against their will. Over half of the women (55%) said they had been inappropriately touched.

A damning picture emerges of the broader workplace culture in aviation, too. An even higher number of women, over two-thirds (67%), had experienced unwanted flirting, gestures, or sexual comments, and almost as many (65%) had been told sexually offensive “jokes”. Meanwhile, pornographic images had been shown or shared with 40% of women in the sector by a manager, colleague, passenger, or other third party.

Reporting the harassment was not something women often did because of concerns about whether the complaint would affect their employment prospects or be taken seriously – a finding that tallies with the 76% of women who said management did not address the problem.

Balvinder Bir, Unite’s national officer for civil air transport, accused employers of failing women workers in the sector, and said it is a situation that “cannot continue”, promising to “fight all the way to ensure that Unite’s campaign demands are met so women working in the industry are fully protected and they are safe to work without harassment.”

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Protecting employees from work-related sexual harassment is a duty that has been enshrined in UK law since the Worker Protection Act 2023 was enacted. But Unite’s survey found a massive 82% of women still do not believe their employer does enough to fulfill this requirement.

As a result, Unite has launched a Zero Tolerance to Sexual Harassment campaign to ensure bespoke policies and mandatory training on the issue are put into place. Furthermore, the union wants the deadline for complaints to be extended from three to six months after any incident, and for sexual harassment to be considered a workplace injury under Health and Safety Executive rules.