Need To “Educate Men” Highlighted On Sexual Harassment Discussion

21 January 2018, 15:14 | Updated: 21 January 2018, 15:49

Jane Merrick and Kate Maltby told LBC that women “just want to be treated with respect, that’s all we’re asking.” They were speaking during an hour-long discussion on sexual harassment.

Jane and Kate are two of the women responsible for raising allegations of sexual harassment at Westminster.

By coming forward it led to the resignations of Defence Secretary Michael Fallon and Deputy Prime Minister Damian Green.

They joined Maajid Nawaz in the studio for an hour-long discussion on sexual harassment.

Maajid asked how hard it was to speak out in harassment cases.

Jane and Kate told Maajid about their experiences insisting there was a need to “educate men” and that people, whether male or female, had to have confidence that they will be believed, taken seriously and their claims independently investigated.

There were various callers into the programme, all claiming issues of harassment.

One of them, Louise said she had been working for a very large construction company when she was sexually harassed by a member of the team. She wasn’t supported and ended up having to leave the company.

Jane told Maajid that while things are improving, there are still improvements that could be made.

Kate Maltby said “we need a cultural change that makes it unacceptable for us to instantly turn round and start tearing apart the credibility of women who make these accusations.

"It shouldn’t be that our entire personalities and characters are instantly put on trial."

You can listen to her views on the changes needed here:

Speaking to Maajid she also said: “I think it was very, very clear that there was a push to discredit me and as far as I’m concerned that trail leads back to Damian Green and his contacts with newspapers”.