Analysis of Sexual Harassment and Gender Equality in Australia

This report analyzes a media article focusing on sexual harassment faced by women in Australian workplaces, drawing on data from a University of Sydney report. The article highlights issues of gender inequality and the prevalence of harassment. The report evaluates the original research's strength...Read More

Focus of the Media Article
The discussed media article focuses on the matter of sexual harassment faced by
women in Australia in their workplace. Data regarding the equality among women and men
in workplaces of Australia along with that of sexual harassment occurrences against women
at workplace has been used in this article.
Data has been used in this article to advocate that continuous harassment has been
experienced by women in their workplace as well as facing various issues regarding gender
equality. This article is a device for conveying that women are always worried about being
treated not equal to men in the same workplace. The given article refers to the data collected
from the 2017 report of University of Sydney, to convey the message and awareness about
the severe problem regarding sexual harassment and gender equality in the workplaces of
Australia that is a frequently occurring issue (Irvine, 2018). A vast range of data has been
included in the media article that has been collected from published research. There were
however some gaps within what was used in the article. Valuable information is included in
this article such as, statistical analysis and rates of sexual harassment faced by women in their
current workplace.
Additionally, some information had been included regarding the data focused on
inequality of gender in workplace and how it is important to have working conditions that are
flexible for women. While mentioning the data focused on gender equality and sexual
harassment, this article had not accounted for the data that concerns the differences in such
events with relation to work status, age, education levels of ethnicity.
Even though no explanation regarding leaving out the piece of information has been
provided by the authors of this media article, it could be regarded that such information has
not been included because the authors wanted to portray a wider explanation about the issue
of gender equality and sexual harassment in different workplaces.
As a whole, the given article has given needed insights in the research published.
However, instead of focusing widely on the information about children and women, gender
equality and sexual harassment, this article would be of more use if it dealt with the main
causes that lead to the issues by taking into consideration the different factors that might
facilitate inequality in workplace like age, ethnicity, education levels and work status.
Strengths of the Research Published Originally
Sampling procedures

The sample used in the study of this article were a group of women and men under the
age of forty along with another sample of women from Torres Strait and Absorption Islands
ageing under forty. Samples in this research has been recruited through a number of
campaigns for marketing on I-view (Baird et al. 2017). In addition to this, the respondents
once recruited were subjected to the screening process that would guarantee the person's
legitimacy. This is a useful step as it provides information about the research validity and
ensures reliable results.
Analysis methods
Software for data analysis had been used to carry out the analysis of data collected
through the survey method for this research. Researchers in this study made use of important
testing where they tested the number of respondents from a certain group who have given a
certain response against that of the other respondents who had given similar responses
(Thomas, 2011). As noted as De Vaus, tests regarding significance are important as they let
us know how much the sample responses are going to not reflect or reflect the population
figures. De Vaus further added, analysis with the help of various characteristics is useful as it
provides a snapshot of a bunch of cases that can be easily understood (Baird et al. 2017). The
analysis of this report has been made with the help of using a variety of characteristics that
included age, ethnicity, educational levels, income and many more.
The research method
Three separate survey samples have been utilised by the research originally published
and the exact same questionnaire had been administered to every sample. Using this
technique of multiple questionnaire has been useful due to its capability to provide data that
is less biased, making use of a questionnaire online can as well erase the potential of
participant leading (Wildemuth, 2016).
Presentation of results
In the research originally published, the research group has made use of tabular
analysis in order to analyse and represents the research results. This method used to present
data in a tabular form has been useful as it gives out a clear picture of the collected data after
analysis (Baird et al. 2017). This methods further turns out to be useful for ensuring the
interpretation of results in ways similar to those who have view the research and increase its
findings’ reliability.

Weaknesses of the Research Published Originally
Research Question
It has been outlined by Edmonds and Kennedy (2016) that research question is mainly
a statement that speaks about what the researcher aims to understand regarding a certain
subject. A certain research question has not been identified in this study. It has however, been
outlined by the authors in the research originally published the research aims to realise the
experiences faced by the working women of Australia under the age of forty. Their lack of a
proper research question has limited their research as the absence of clear question of
research, it is not possible to properly discern if the goal of the study was achieved or not.
Sampling procedures
The given research also had a number of limitations regarding the sampling procedure
used in it. The sizes of the sample selected became a problem for the accuracy and reliability
of the collected data that was presented in the report. It has been noted by the authors of this
research that the devised questionnaire for women working under the age of forty had 2109
participants, whereas the men surveyed under the age of forty were only 500 (Baird et al.
2017). If sample size was kept similar for both the sample groups then they might have vastly
affected the results and would have been more reliable to show the issue’s actual extent.
Analysis Methods
Data analysis had been defined classifically as an ‘estimation’ process which uses
sample to compute the 'statistics’. As stated by Seawright (2016), analysis that is not accurate
may lead to extremely misleading and deceptive picture of the study's results. Even though
most of the data in this research has been analysed in a clear way, the authors of this report
has noted that there were responses that had to be excluded during the process of analysis.
Excluding the sample of Torres Strait Islander and the Aboriginal from the analysis could
lead to a misleading or inaccurate image of inequality and sexual harassment impacts on the
women of these places in their jobs (Wodak and Meyer, 2015). Moreover, exclusion of
samples with 'other’ genders might have resulted in less information regarding the prevalence
of such issues in workplace faced by the non-binary or transgender people.

Research Method
As noted by Seawright (2016), questionnaires are able to be limited in case the
respondents are unable to understand fully what the question really means. In such a way,
during the use of surveys online, data collection becomes easier. This method however,
makes it difficult for the sample to erase their doubts regarding the questions.
Recommendations regarding Alternative Data Collection Methods
A methodology more refined should be devised to correct the problems of sample
selection and data collection. As suggested by Thomas (2011), mixing different methods can
increase the validity of inferences as they jointly confirm the findings. Therefore, such mixed
methods can be used as alternatives of the used methodology. For example, taking equal
sample sizes or structured interviews to improve the accuracy of the research findings.
Total evaluation of the research published originally
As a whole, the report is very useful because it will help businesses to focus on
improving the working conditions of women by taking steps against severe issues of sexual
harassment and gender equality faced by working women. Survey through questionnaire was
needed for collecting data in this study as, the needed information was familiar to the sample
and specific (Jansen, 2010). The media article doesn't mention the limitations of the research
mentioned earlier, it only spreads the awareness regarding the presence of such severe issues
in Australian workplaces.

References
Media Article
Irvine, J 2018, ‘“Shocking” levels of sexual harassment at work, study reveal’, Sydney
Morning Herald, 5th March 2018, viewed 3rd May 2018, Sydney Morning Herald Online
Database.
Original Research Report
Baird M, Cooper R, Hill E, Probyn E and Vromen A 2017, ‘Women and the Future of Work:
Report 1 of the Australian Women’s Working Future Project’, University of Sydney
Other Sources
Edmonds, W.A. and Kennedy, T.D., 2016. An applied guide to research designs:
Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. Sage Publications.
Jansen, H., 2010. The logic of qualitative survey research and its position in the field of social
research methods. In Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social
Research (Vol. 11, No. 2).
Seawright, J., 2016. Multi-method social science: Combining qualitative and quantitative
tools. Cambridge University Press.
Thomas, G., 2011. A typology for the case study in social science following a review of
definition, discourse, and structure. Qualitative inquiry, 17(6), pp.511-521.
Wildemuth, B.M. ed., 2016. Applications of social research methods to questions in
information and library science. ABC-CLIO.
Wodak, R. and Meyer, M. eds., 2015. Methods of critical discourse studies. Sage.