A groundbreaking Australian survey has uncovered a powerful but untapped resource in the fight against workplace sexual harassment: male colleagues who want to help but feel powerless to act.
The Being an Ethical Bystander survey, which polled 940 essential workers across Australia, found that more than half had witnessed sexual or gender-based harassment at work. Despite this widespread exposure, most witnesses did not intervene when they saw inappropriate behavior occurring.
The Bystander Dilemma: Willing but Unable
According to Karen Willis, Unions NSW gender equity officer and author of the analysis published on November 28, 2025, the research reveals a critical gap between intention and action. Most workers genuinely cared about the impact of harassment on their colleagues and wanted to help, but they consistently held back due to uncertainty about how to intervene effectively and fear of potential consequences.
"Our survey shows harassment is not occurring in a vacuum but in front of colleagues who want to help but don't feel equipped or protected," Willis explained, drawing on her decades of experience in women's health.
The strongest message came from male respondents, with most expressing desire to challenge the behavior of a problematic minority. Their concerns centered around workplace retaliation, damaging relationships with senior staff, becoming the next target, or simply lacking confidence that their intervention would create meaningful change.
Building Protective Scaffolding for Ethical Bystanders
The research identifies two crucial elements needed to transform workplace culture: explicit legal protections for ethical bystanders and comprehensive practical training.
Currently, workers who speak up against harassment often face subtle forms of punishment that fall into legal grey zones - being removed from preferred shifts, sidelined from important projects, or excluded from decision-making processes. Willis argues that legislating protections would clarify that speaking up is not just permitted but expected, distributing responsibility for safe workplaces beyond those who experience direct harm.
Practical support through ethical bystander training addresses the knowledge gap many workers reported. The training teaches the Five Ds of intervention: direct, distract, delegate, delay, and document. This framework makes intervention accessible and less intimidating while increasing safety for all involved.
The Union Advantage and Cultural Shifts
The survey revealed significant differences in confidence levels between unionized and non-unionized workplaces. Workers in unionized environments reported higher willingness to intervene, knowing they had institutional support if situations escalated.
This support proves particularly crucial in male-dominated industries where silence is often enforced through informal cultural pressures. The research suggests training is most effective when delivered by peers, union representatives, or colleagues rather than management, as workers tend to trust these sources more.
Willis also highlighted the broader cultural context, noting that recent reports about the "manosphere" and its influence in Australian schools show how misogynistic messages spread among young men. These attitudes don't disappear at the school gate but follow them into workplaces, making early and consistent reinforcement of respectful behavior essential.
"In my years working with women experiencing harassment or abuse, I have seen how powerful it can be when men step forward as allies," Willis noted. "But our survey shows how quickly that solidarity evaporates when workplaces don't back them in."
The research concludes that creating workplaces where every person is treated with dignity requires protecting those who look out for others through legal reform, practical training, and cultural change that makes ethical bystander intervention the norm rather than the exception.
