You don't need to know whether something legally qualifies as sexism, harassment, discrimination or abuse before seeking support. If it leaves an ick feeling, write down what happened while it is fresh in your mind, preserve relevant evidence, identify a safe person or reporting route, and seek appropriate advice. If the person involved has authority over you, consider whether an alternative or independent reporting route is available. Talk to colleagues to see if they witnessed the event and find out if they know if it has happened before. Sometimes people know but don’t say anything. You are allowed to ask for advice before deciding whether to make a formal complaint. If you still struggle reach out for a short situational coaching session.

Workplace sexism is behaviour, language, practices or systems based on the idea that someone is inferior, less capable or less deserving because of their sex. It can be obvious or subtle and can occur online or offline. Sexism can include stereotypes, exclusion, sexist jokes, unequal opportunities, dismissive comments, sexualised behaviour and organisational practices that disadvantage people because of sex or gender. Not all sexist behaviour is illegal. Benevolent sexism and just because there is no ill intent doesn’t make it less damaging. For example a manger not sending a woman on his team to an important conference because they don’t want to take her away from her family. But behaviour does not have to be illegal before an organisation should take it seriously.

Sexual harassment is unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that violates someone's dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. It can include verbal, physical, visual, written and digital behaviour. It can happen between colleagues, between managers and employees, or involve clients, customers or other third parties. (3Plus International)

How to Deal with Sexism and Harassment in the Workplace

Yes. A single incident can constitute sexual harassment, depending on the circumstances and the applicable law. Some particularly serious behaviours may also constitute criminal offences such as an assault. It is therefore unsafe to assume that something is "only harassment" because it happened more than once.

Intent does not automatically make unwanted behaviour acceptable. "Just joking", "I didn't mean anything by it" or "that's how we communicate here" should not be used to dismiss a concern. The context, behaviour, impact, power relationship and applicable legal framework all matter. A workplace culture should not require someone experiencing harm to prove malicious intent before their concern is taken seriously.

Ask several questions:

• Was the behaviour unwanted?
• Did it involve sexual or sexist content?
• Was someone's dignity undermined?
• Was there a power imbalance?
• Did the person continue after discomfort or objection was expressed?
• Could the behaviour affect someone's work, opportunities or sense of safety?
• Are colleagues normalising or encouraging it?
• Is there a pattern of behaviour?

You do not have to wait until behaviour becomes extreme before raising a concern.

You don’t need to diagnose the behaviour yourself. If something feels wrong, confusing, humiliating or unsafe, you can seek confidential advice and explain what happened. Keep a factual record of incidents where possible, including dates, witnesses, messages and other relevant evidence. The legal classification may depend on the jurisdiction and circumstances.

Yes. Sexual harassment and abuse of power are not limited to explicit threats. A manager may have influence over someone's pay, promotion, performance assessment, job security, assignments or career progression. This can create circumstances in which apparent "agreement" is affected by dependency or fear. The hub's From Norms to Harm model specifically highlights power, dependency and coercion as important dimensions of workplace sexual misconduct. (3Plus International)

Abuse of power occurs when someone uses their position, authority, influence or control over resources to pressure, intimidate, manipulate or disadvantage another person. It can occur in relationships involving managers, mentors, senior executives, sponsors, clients or other professional gatekeepers. Power does not always look like an explicit threat. Sometimes the fear of what might happen is enough to influence someone's behaviour.

Second-order sexual harassment occurs when someone experiences negative consequences because they supported, reported or participated in addressing sexual harassment. For example, a colleague who supports a complaint may subsequently experience exclusion, retaliation, intimidation or damage to their career. This is important because the people who speak up need protection too.

Yes. Workplace harassment can occur through email, messaging platforms, video calls, social media, collaboration tools and other digital environments connected to work. AI has also introduced new forms of risk, including manipulated images, deepfakes, synthetic audio and AI-generated sexualised content. (3Plus International)

Prioritise your safety and do not feel responsible for proving or investigating the material yourself. Where appropriate:

• Preserve relevant evidence.
• Record what happened and when.
• Avoid repeatedly circulating the material.
• Report through the appropriate workplace or platform process.
• Consider legal or law-enforcement advice where appropriate.
• Seek confidential emotional or professional support.

The legal position varies considerably between jurisdictions, particularly for AI-generated sexualised material.

It depends on what happened. Workplace harassment and criminal conduct can overlap, but they are not the same thing. HR, an ethics function, an independent reporting channel or another workplace mechanism may be appropriate for workplace misconduct. Police or other authorities may be appropriate where behaviour may constitute a crime or where there is an immediate safety concern physical or sexual assault, and intimidation fall into this category. You do not necessarily have to choose only one route.

Organisations should provide more than one reporting route, particularly where the person implicated is a manager, senior executive or member of HR. Consider whether there is an independent ethics channel, designated safeguarding contact, whistleblowing mechanism, external reporting channel or another person who can receive the concern. A reporting system is not genuinely trusted if employees cannot use it when the normal reporting route is conflicted. If the organisation has no other reporting route, find a trusted senior leader and confide in them. If that doesn’t work, it suggests that the workplace in quite toxic. You can consider seeking legal support or leaving.

Lack of documentary evidence does not necessarily mean that nothing can be done. Write down what you remember as accurately as possible, including dates, locations, people present, what was said or done, and any subsequent consequences. Do not alter, manufacture or exaggerate evidence. Organisations are responsible for assessing concerns and determining what evidence is relevant. Keeping a contemporaneous record can help preserve your own recollection. Your hub already recommends keeping records of incidents. (3Plus International)

Not objecting immediately does not automatically mean that you consented. People may freeze, feel intimidated, be shocked, worry about their job, not understand what is happening or only recognise the significance of an incident later. Power differences can make an immediate response particularly difficult.

A nervous laugh, silence or attempt to defuse a situation should not automatically be interpreted as agreement. Human responses to uncomfortable or threatening situations vary. The surrounding circumstances and power relationship matter.

Yes. There can be a significant gap between behaviour that is unlawful and behaviour that is harmful. Sexist comments, exclusion, stereotyping, belittling and repeated microaggressions may affect confidence, participation, career opportunities and psychological safety even when an individual incident does not meet a legal threshold. This is why prevention should not begin only when an organisation has a legal case. Your hub makes this distinction particularly well through its "From Norms to Harm" framework: everyday norms and silencing behaviours can create the conditions in which more serious misconduct becomes possible. (3Plus International)

Not necessarily. Microaggressions are generally understood as subtle verbal, non-verbal or environmental slights or messages associated with a person's identity or a marginalised characteristic. They may be intentional or unintentional and discriminatory or non-discriminatory but can become harmful through repetition and cumulative impact. (3Plus International) Whether particular behaviour constitutes harassment or discrimination is a separate legal question. The important point is that "not legally harassment" does not mean "not worth addressing.

The first response matters. Managers should take care not to retrigger the trauma which the target may have experienced:

• listen without judgement;
• thank the person for speaking up;
• avoid blaming or interrogating them;
• avoid promising a particular outcome;
• explain what they can and cannot keep confidential;
• follow the organisation's reporting and escalation procedures;
• preserve relevant information;
• avoid unnecessary repeated retelling;
• consider immediate safety and support needs.

Managers are not usually investigators so their job is to respond appropriately and activate the right process. This is particularly important from a trauma-informed perspective, where unnecessary repetition, disbelief or loss of control can compound the original harm. (3Plus International)

At minimum, organisations should have a clear process for:

Receive → Protect → Assess → Escalate → Investigate → Remedy → Prevent recurrence

The response should consider both the immediate concern and the wider organisational environment that allowed it to occur. A good response is not simply about closing a case. It should ask: What happened, why was it possible, and what needs to change so it is less likely to happen again?

Because harassment does not happen in a vacuum. Colleagues can reinforce harmful behaviour by laughing, remaining silent, excluding the target or treating inappropriate conduct as normal. Conversely, they can help interrupt behaviour and signal that it is not acceptable. Bystander intervention is particularly valuable before behaviour escalates. Your hub identifies the boundary-violation and norm-setting stages as important opportunities for intervention. (3Plus International)

Take the concern seriously. Retaliation can include threats, exclusion, negative treatment, career disadvantage, changes in responsibilities, social isolation or other adverse treatment following a complaint or disclosure. Document relevant changes and seek advice through an appropriate reporting or support channel. Organisations should design reporting systems that protect people from retaliation rather than making speaking up itself a career risk.

A trauma-informed response does not mean assuming that everyone who reports harassment has trauma. It means designing the response to recognise that people may experience significant psychological and emotional effects from harmful events. Good practice includes:

• safety;
• choice where possible;
• dignity;
• transparency;
• confidentiality within appropriate limits;
• avoiding unnecessary repetition;
• avoiding victim-blaming;
• clear information about what happens next.

The objective is not simply to process a complaint. It is to avoid causing additional harm through the process itself. (3Plus International)

Coercive control is a pattern of behaviour used to restrict another person's autonomy, choices and freedom through intimidation, manipulation, threats, isolation or abuse of power. It is usually not one isolated incident. Instead, controlling behaviours can build over time, making a person feel that challenging, disagreeing with or leaving a situation will have consequences. In the workplace, coercive control can involve:

• controlling access to information, work, opportunities or resources;
• using someone's position, pay, career progression or job security as leverage;
• intimidation, humiliation or repeated criticism;
• threats, explicit or implied;
• isolating someone from colleagues or professional networks;
• creating uncertainty or fear about what will happen if they do not comply;
• retaliation or threatened retaliation when someone challenges the behaviour.

Coercive control can be particularly difficult to recognise in workplaces because the behaviour may be disguised as management, performance management or organisational decision-making. The important question is whether legitimate authority is being used to restrict another person's autonomy or to create dependency and fear. Coercive control may overlap with bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination or retaliation, but these terms are not interchangeable. Whether conduct meets a particular legal definition depends on the circumstances and the jurisdiction. You do not have to prove that behaviour is legally defined as coercive control before seeking advice or support.

If you are experiencing sexism or harassment at work, consider speaking with a trusted person, HR or another confidential workplace contact. Depending on the circumstances, professional, medical, psychological, legal or law-enforcement support may also be appropriate. If you are in immediate danger, contact the appropriate emergency service in your country. You don't have to decide the legal label before asking for help. If in doubt reach out for an ad hoc situational coaching session.