Sexual harassment and prejudice rife in industry

Sexual discrimination is rife in the hospitality industry, with nearly half of workers questioned in an exclusive Caterer survey admitting they had been subjected to prejudice or harassment.

Hotel employees suffer the most, with more than half (54%) of respondents saying they were working in the sector when the offences occurred.

Of the 111 respondents, 42% said they had been the victims of sexual harassment or discrimination, while the same number felt their sex had hindered their career.

Harassment and discrimination included being made redundant "due to being a female of child-bearing age", being passed over for promotion "in favour of a less qualified man", and being touched inappropriately by male colleagues.

Two-thirds (63%) of the 1.6 million-strong hospitality workforce are women, but the vast majority are low-paid workers such as waitresses, barmaids and housekeepers.

Paul Glenn, divisional director of hospitality recruitment consultant Lister Charles, said: "The situation is getting better, but it takes time. There are old-school operators from the 1960s who still feel they can get away with anything."

A T&G union spokesman said the situation seemed to be getting worse, however, with the growing trend towards casual and agency labour meaning workers would suffer more victimisation than permanent employees. "It's the age-old problem of employers doing the minimum required to comply with the law. A policy is no good if it's just a document, it needs to be applied across the board," he said.

However, Martin Couchman, deputy chief executive of the British Hospitality Association, defended the industry. "Employers do accept that they have a responsibility to try and protect staff, and everyone would agree that discrimination is unacceptable," he said.

"However in any large group of people you'll find incidences of discrimination but they're normally individual rather than part of a campaign."

Anecdotal evidence from the survey also suggested that a significant proportion of the discrimination was homophobic. Ben Summerskill, chief executive of gay rights group Stonewall, said: "The pressured restaurant environment can encourage a more macho culture which is likely to breed sexism and homophobic attitudes."

It was indicative that not one hospitality business was listed in the 2005 survey of top 100 gay-friendly employers, he added.

International stress management consultant Carole Spiers concluded: "The hospitality industry is condoning this kind of behaviour by not tackling it head-on.

"The fear culture of harassment and discrimination will compound the industry's problem of high turnover and give it a bad name."

Harassment and discrimination in the workplace

As part of our survey, Caterer asked what your experiences had been. Here are a few of the worst examples:

• "I was out for a business dinner with a senior colleague. He kissed me and stuck his tongue in my mouth in the restaurant, while grabbing the back of my neck. In the taxi there was a gropey fight before he lunged at me."
• "General homophobic behaviour from my hotel colleagues and being asked for sex by my boss and guests."
• "I was overlooked for promotion because I refused to slepp with the hotel's head chef. I left when he made my life unbearable."
• "Not being paid the same as male managers of equal responsiblity."
• "A manager called me into his office, closing the door after I walked in and pinning me against it."
• "Being a young female manager, certain male staff responded badly being told what to do by a woman."
• "My boss said I should be at home with a baby, cooking my husbands dinner, waiting for him to come home, and not working on a ship, which is a man's job."