Fewer than one in five people who experience sexual harassment in the workplace complain, often for fear of losing their job. 

It's difficult enough for women to speak up in 2021, but rewind a decade and it was even harder, as one of the highest-profile sexual harassment cases in Australian history illustrates.

In 2010, 25-year-old junior publicist Kristy Fraser-Kirk brought a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against retailer David Jones, alleging the company's then CEO, Mark McInnes, had sexually harassed her on a couple of occasions at work functions.

Mr McInnes has always denied the claims made against him and claimed the court action was an abuse of process.

Initially, Ms Fraser-Kirk tried to have her complaint dealt with internally but it wasn't resolved and the case ended up in court.

It ultimately settled outside of court and the terms of the settlement have never been officially released.

For the first time, Ms Fraser-Kirk has granted a television interview about her famous case, telling 7.30 she hopes times have changed.

"I think quite honestly, if David Jones had this on their doorstep right now, I would hope it would be handled very differently," she said.

"Clearly people weren't ready for a 25-year-old blonde woman coming up the ranks, you know, a junior publicist, to kind of call out and say, 'That's not right.'"

At the time, media reports insinuated Ms Fraser-Kirk was a troublemaker and a gold-digger, a take that was unsurprising by the standards of the time but is jarring today.

Ms Fraser-Kirk says the high profile of the case and her treatment by some sections of the media had a devastating impact.

"When my situation happened before the 'me too' movement, nobody really got it. And now there's a little change in the air, which is a change of tune, which is refreshing," she said.

"But we've got a lot of work to do."

National report defined problem

Sexual harassment — and worse — in workplaces remains extremely prevalent.

In the past year, it has been illustrated by prominent cases in Australia, including High Court Justice Dyson Heydon, federal political staffer Frank Zumbo and the Brittany Higgins rape allegations inside Parliament House in Canberra.

The problem is so endemic that the Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner produced a report called "Respect@Work" to look at what's happening and why.

That followed the 2018 National Survey that found that almost two in five women experience sexual harassment in the workplace.

Indigenous women and women from culturally diverse backgrounds, with English as a second language, as well as women with a disability, are particularly vulnerable.

Many women feel they are unable to speak up about their abuse for fear of losing their jobs. Only about 17 per cent of people complain and that figure has been consistent since 2003.

"Our national inquiry found that the key driver behind sexual harassment was power disparity and particularly gender inequality," Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins said.

"We also found that the systems in place really rely on individuals to make complaints before any actions are taken. So they're not putting the burden on employers to stop sexual harassment, they're really putting the burden on victims to complain about it.

"And so that has resulted in an environment where I think employers and perpetrators are more interested to suppress the complaint than to stop the sexual harassment."

Three pivotal movements

There have been three major wake-up moments for corporate Australia on sexual harassment.

The first was when the Sex Discrimination Act was introduced in 1984, making it illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender and sexual identity.

The second was the David Jones case, which caused companies to realise that it wasn't just potentially a legal problem for them, it could cause reputational disaster too.

Unfortunately, this led to a tendency to try to hush-up sexual harassment and abuse cases with non-disclosure clauses and payouts.

The third pivotal moment was the Harvey Weinstein case in 2017. It finally caused corporations around the world to realise that covering-up could be even more disastrous.

The 2021 case of Brittany Higgins in Canberra's Parliament House illustrated this, when efforts by her colleagues and senior ministers to keep the matter secret led to massive political fallout and public anger when the rape allegations eventually surfaced publicly.

Kate Jenkins agrees with Kristy Fraser-Kirk that today, a case similar to the David Jones matter would hopefully be managed differently, although she says it would still be fraught.

"I don't think we're there yet. I think that a junior person bringing a complaint against a CEO, in a country like Australia where industries are relatively small, is a high-risk thing to do," Ms Jenkins said.

"My focus would be to say that boards need to be more vigilant to make sure their CEOs are behaving and to not be relying on individuals coming forward."

Ms Fraser-Kirk is now a senior executive working in London, managing her own team.

She says her personal experience informs how she looks after her staff.

The reason she has put herself in the spotlight once again is to hopefully improve things for future generations.

"I wouldn't have done this interview if it hadn't been for my daughter," she said.

"I realise that even still 10 years, or whatever it is now, I'm still a little bit fearful of what people will think. And that's not a message that I would send to anybody in my team. And more importantly, it's not the message that I would send to my daughter.

"So as hard as this path is to trail blaze, sometimes you've got to suck it up, because this generation deserves more."

In a statement, a spokesperson for David Jones said "this is a historical case and is in no way reflective of David Jones’ values".

"We welcome the current focus on this important topic and as a business, we are committed to embracing all aspects of equality, diversity and inclusion.

"David Jones has in place strict policies, training and protocols to ensure safety and fairness for all team members.

"We do not tolerate bullying or harassment of any nature.”

The ABC made multiple attempts to contact Mr McInnes for his comments but were unable to speak to him directly and no response to the ABC's communication was received.

Part three of 7.30's Why Women Are Angry special airs tonight on ABC TV and iview.