Safer Workplaces: WLASA Advocates for Stronger WHS Protections Against Gender-Based Violence
The Women Lawyers’ Association of South Australia Inc. has made a formal submission to Safe Work Australia as part of the Best Practice Review of the Model Work Health and Safety Laws and Regulations, calling for urgent reform to address gender-based violence in workplaces.
WLASA's submission highlights the growing recognition of gendered violence as a national crisis. Despite this, current work health and safety laws remain largely silent on gender-based violence and leave a significant gap in protections for workers, particularly women and people with intersecting identities.
As legal professionals, WLASA members see firsthand the impact of unsafe workplace cultures, both through their personal experiences and through the clients they support. With millions of workers across Australia experiencing sexual harassment and bullying at work every year, and with very few coming forward due to systemic barriers, WLASA stresses that the current reactive, complaints-based system fails to prevent harm.
Shifting the Focus to Prevention
WLASA is advocating for a preventative approach to gender-based violence in the workplace. The association urges Safe Work Australia to:
- Recognise gender-based violence as a specific safety risk under WHS laws.
- Place the responsibility for prevention squarely on employers and regulators, not individuals.
- Ensure accountability for those in positions of power to proactively create safe work environments.
"People should never have to choose between their safety and their job," WLASA states. "Fairness and accountability must be embedded in our workplace safety systems."
A Call for Action
By pushing for these reforms, WLASA is standing up for safer, fairer workplaces for both Women Lawyers and the wider community by moving beyond systems that wait for harm to occur and instead build work cultures that actively prevent it.
This advocacy is part of WLASA’s broader commitment to gender equality, justice, and meaningful reform for women and the law.