In the autumn of 1991 the European Parliament approved a soft law Recommendation and Code of Practice  ‘to promote greater awareness at all levels of the problem of sexual harassment at work and its consequences’. It urged member states ‘to take preventive measures’ and encouraged take-up of the Code of Practice.

This intervention emerged from advocacy by a broad network of gender equalities groups across member states (including the UK’s Women Against Sexual Harassment) and, more specifically, the work of Northern Ireland’s Evelyn Collins, as a civil servant on assignment to the Equal Opportunity Unit of the European Commission.

In 1987 leading industrial relations lawyer Michael Rubenstein had produced The Dignity of Women at Work: A Report on the Problem of Sexual Harassment in the Member States of the European Commission which had highlighted the lack of legal redress in most member states, and had made suggestions for a Code of Practice (as well as a number of Directives). Collins worked closely with Rubenstein on the Recommendation (a legal tool that would enable member states to come to agreement) as well as with the European Parliament Women’s Rights Committee to create the Code of Practice.

The UK and Ireland were unusual within the European Union in that the common law had established that ‘sexual harassment’ was a form of unlawful discrimination (with an absence of law on the matter the norm in most other member states). In 1986 the case of Strathclyde Regional Council v. Porcelli had resulted in the ‘first definitive ruling by a British legal court’, yet lack of a clear, comprehensive and coherent definition remained. Importantly, therefore, the 1991 Recommendation provided a definition on which UK industrial tribunals could draw. It defined ‘sexual harassment’ as ‘conduct that is unwanted, unreasonable and offensive to the recipient’ (and thus subjective and based on the perception of the individual). It also included both the creation of a ‘hostile environment’ and the ‘quid pro quo’ use of ‘sexual harassment’ that had been identified by Catherine Mackinnon in her pathbreaking work, Sexual Harassment of Working Women, in 1979.

Moreover, the Code of Practice outlined policies and procedures that employers and trade unions should adopt, as well as employees’ responsibilities.

MEP Christine Crawley, who chaired the European Parliament Women’s Rights Committee, reflected in 1991 on the importance of Rubenstein’s earlier report and the (new) Code of Practice:

In the mid-eighties the European Commission received a piece of research which blew the lid off the prejudiced view that sexual harassment is an insignificant, hyped-up issue …. [it found that] sexual harassment was the most common and least discussed occupational health hazard for women – it makes millions of women miserable every day, causes work absenteeism, depression and poor motivation.

Women are the main, but not exclusive, targets and the practice is generally perpetrated by male supervisors or managers on female subordinates. Those most at risk included divorced and separated women new entrants to the labour market (female and male), women with irregular contracts or working on predominantly male work-sites, women with disabilities, women from ethnic minorities and lesbians and gay men. 

The Code of Practice is clear in giving guidance on procedures and counselling and support if sexual harassment should be reported at work.’ (Letter to The Guardian 15 Oct 1991 p22)

 

Clearly, these measures were about encouraging best practice across member states. They were followed in 2002 with a Directive that, for the first time, required members to ensure that sexual harassment was unlawful.

 

Further reading:

Kathrin S. Zippel, The Politics of Sexual Harassment (Cambridge University Press, 2006)