Exploring Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Women’s Experiences of Workplace Sexual Harassment
Published on 23 September, 2025.
This report provides qualitative insights into the experiences of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic women in Wales who have experienced gender-based sexual harassment in the workplace. The research explores the ways in which gender and racial discrimination can intersect and impact on reporting, response and outcomes. Racial discrimination encompasses race, ethnicity, culture and religion, and in this context other aspects of intersectionality are also relevant, such as class status and job security. The research was commissioned by Welsh Government’s Race Disparity Evidence Unit (RDEU), on behalf of the Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (VAWDASV) Blueprint Workplace Harassment Workstream (the ‘workstream’) and AntiRacist Wales Action Plan (ArWAP). Under both the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan and the VAWDASV National Strategy, there is a priority to garner evidence from the lived experiences of ethnic minority workers, gaining a clearer understanding of the barriers faced by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic women, and thus providing opportunity to use an informed approach to develop effective actions to help prevent sexual harassment in the workplace (Appendix A). Under the Worker Protection Act 2023 (which came into effect in October 2024), all organisations now have a clear duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent and respond to sexual harassment in the workplace. Considering the above recent changes to legislation, this report begins to provide a picture of the challenges currently faced by ethnic minority women in Wales and makes considerations based on those experiences to improve wellbeing, inclusion and workplace cohesion.