A Ministry of Defence civil servant has told of being subjected to three separate incidents of sexual assault by male colleagues, after allegations emerged of a “hostile” and “toxic” culture at the department.
The woman came forward to Prospect, the trade union, after feeling that her allegations were not sufficiently investigated and dealt with by the Ministry of Defence.
About 60 senior women at the Ministry of Defence wrote to the permanent secretary, David Williams, in October with a joint letter that alleged sexual assault, harassment and abuse by male colleagues.
The letter, first reported by the Guardian, included claims that women had been “propositioned”, “groped” and “touched repeatedly” by male colleagues at the MoD in a workplace culture the civil servants said was “hostile to women as equal and respected partners”.
The female civil servant came forward with her account after the letter in the hope that making the details of her experience public will help stop anything similar happening to someone else.
In testimony to Prospect, the woman said she experienced the first sexual assault several years ago when a male colleague grabbed her breasts and squeezed them in front of others during a work social event. She said she was shocked and embarrassed and asked him not to do that but about a minute later he repeated the action.
In the second incident, during an overseas-based role, the civil servant was at the married quarters of an MoD couple, after visiting the Officers’ Mess, when she felt her male colleague’s hand running up and down her thigh while his wife was sitting opposite at a table.
She reported the second incident and asked that he did not contact her or come near her, but afterwards he stood in her office door in an intimidating manner and told her that nothing had happened.
In the third incident, the female civil servant was at a conference when a male colleague became flirtatious and offered to escort her to her hotel. She declined, but he followed her anyway and then asked to come into her room. She said that he could not, but he did so anyway and then tried to kiss her.
Subsequently, the woman was allowed to limit her interaction with the man to online meetings but she continued to feel intimidated by him. She made a formal complaint to the MoD, and the man was not suspended during the investigation despite being her countersigning officer.
Sue Ferns, the senior deputy general secretary of Prospect, said the assaults were in themselves shocking “but for the MoD to so comprehensively fail to deal with the culprits, or take adequate measures to stop it happening again, is completely unacceptable”.
“Abusive behaviour thrives in an atmosphere of permissiveness and cover-up,” she said. “It takes huge courage for women to come forward when these behaviours happen in a work-related setting, so when they do it is critical that their employer acts. The MoD needs to stop being part of the problem, start taking allegations of this nature seriously, and introduce a proper system to deal with bullying and sexual harassment.”
Prospect also said it had written to the MoD, on behalf of the joint trade unions, well over a year ago to call for a review of bullying, harassment, discrimination and victimisation policies. It said there had been “no meaningful engagement on these policies”, and a new HR forum had yet to acknowledge the joint trade unions’ request.
The trade union was one of several that attended a meeting in early December at the MoD in which bullying and harassment of women working in defence was raised.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “No woman should be made to feel unsafe in the Ministry of Defence and this behaviour is not tolerated. We are committed to stamping this out and we continue to encourage anyone who has experienced or witnessed this kind of inexcusable behaviour to report it immediately.”
