Feminist Responses to Change the Course, Australian Women’s and Gender Studies Association

This report has been produced as part of AWGSA’s response to the Change the Course (2017) report on sexual abuse and harassment in Australian Universities, with the aim of establishing feminist best practice in responding to a complaint of sexual harassment or discrimination. The report begins by providing an over view of the legal definition of sexual harassment in Australia, before moving to a brief discussion of the relationship between sexual harassment, sexual discrimination and between and sexual abuse. The second part of the report outlines key findings from the Change the Course report and using the follow up audit conducted by AHRC evaluates the adequacy of changes implemented by Australian universities. The third section outlines the internal and external reporting and complaints processes available to victims of sexual harassment and discrimination in Australia. The final section of the report focuses on establishing feminist best practice in reporting and complaints processes. A draft AWGSA protocol for feminist best practice on reporting and complaints procedures is attached as an appendix.