Britain’s Ministry of Defense is being accused by around sixty of its senior officials of allowing a “toxic” culture to flourish and women to be harassed by their male colleagues, The Guardian reported on Friday.
In a letter to their superiors published by the British daily, these women affirm that “their daily work (at the ministry’s headquarters) is complicated by behavior that would be considered toxic and inappropriate in public life, but is tolerated in public life.” within the Ministry of Defense.
“We are subjected to derogatory language, we are victims of unwanted attention and sexual harassment, including intrusive looks, sexual comments and incessant comments about our clothes, our appearance or our perfume,” they describe.
The Defense Department assured that it would “resolve the deeply concerning issues raised in this letter.”
“No woman should feel unsafe in defense and this behavior will not be tolerated,” the ministry added.
The FDA union, which represents public sector executives, called for “an immediate investigation into these allegations.”
“The stories of these women’s experiences are deeply disturbing. “Everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect in their workplace,” the union responded to X (formerly Twitter).
According to the authors of the letter, the problems raised are not old problems, but rather “current” problems. And they say complaints and reports on these issues “have generally been downplayed rather than heard.”
The Ministry of Defense is not the first British public organization to face such allegations in recent years.
The London police, firefighters and Parliament are accused of allowing a sexist culture and moral or sexual harassment against women.
In the private sector, the main employers’ association, the CBI, was also rocked last spring by allegations of sexual assault, including two rapes. Its director was fired and many members left the organization.