Doing Nothing Does Harm - Home
A group of three men and three women are exercising in a leafy park. We focus on two of the men who are putting their boxing gloves on. One of them makes a comment about the woman exercising behind them.]
Man 1: Oohf, check it out. Makes the 6 AM alarm worth it, doesn’t it?
[Man 2 looks clearly uncomfortable with the comment, but doesn’t do anything.]
[Words appear on screen: Next time, do something.]
[Suddenly, a mouse cursor rewinds the video back to the moment where Man 2 makes the offensive comment.]
Man 1: … Makes the 6 AM alarm worth it, doesn’t it?
[This time, the friend decides to show that the comment was not okay. He shakes his head, takes off his gloves, and walks away from the man who made the disrespectful comment.]
[Words appear on the screen: When you see women being disrespected, show it’s not OK.]
[Man 1 who made the disrespectful comment now looks uncomfortable and contemplative.]
[An end graphic appears on screen to read: Do something, because doing nothing does harm - This is followed by an Our Watch logo and text that reads: End violence against women and their children – at the bottom, the text reads: doingnothingdoesharm.org.au]
Show it's not OK
Next time, use body language to show your disapproval:
- Roll your eyes
- Shake your head
- Don’t laugh along
- Walk away
- Stand between the person being disrespectful and the woman.
[A group of four tradespeople, three men and one woman, are having lunch at a casual café discussing something that happened at work that morning]
Man 1: Yeah, I reckon we’re going to need another day to finish that decking though.
Woman: Well you’ll save time if we repurpose the...
[Man 2 interrupts the woman]
Man 2: I reckon us guys know what we’re doing, thanks love.
[Man 1 looks visibly uncomfortable with the comment and looks down, but doesn’t do anything about it]
[Words appear on the screen: Next time, do something.]
[Suddenly, a mouse cursor rewinds the video back to the moment where Man 2 makes the offensive comment.]
Man 2: ...thanks love.
[The woman looks visibly offended as she grabs her wallet, stands up and walks away towards the cashier]
[Words appear on the screen: When you see women being disrespected, support them]
[This time, Man 1 stands up and walks towards his female colleague to support her.]
Man 1: Hey, don’t listen to him. Keen to hear your idea when we get back.
[The woman smiles and nods at him.]
[Man 1 looks back at the table to see their fourth colleague nodding at him and the woman in approval]
[An end graphic appears on screen to read: Do something, because doing nothing does harm - This is followed by an Our Watch logo and text that reads: End violence against women and their children – at the bottom, the text reads: doingnothingdoesharm.org.au]
Support women
Next time, support women and other people doing something:
- Ask if she’s OK – in person or in a message
- Acknowledge what happened: ‘Hey, I’m sorry. That wasn’t cool’
- Back up people doing something
- Support women who report sexism and disrespect to HR or social media platforms
- Learn how disrespect limits women’s lives - and help others learn, too.
[A man is sitting at his desk attending a video conference meeting with four other colleagues, two men and two women. One of his male colleagues makes a comment.]
Man 1: This is a tough client, better we send one of the guys instead.
[Everyone looks uncomfortable about the comment, but no one does anything. We focus back on the man sitting at his desk who shakes his head]
[Words appear on the screen: Next time, do something.]
[Suddenly, a mouse cursor rewinds the video back to the moment where Man 2 makes the offensive comment.]
Man 1: ...the guys instead.
[This time, the man who was looking uncomfortable decides to speak up.]
Man 2: What do you mean? Because Emma’s a woman? I wonder what HR would have to say about this?
[Words appear on the screen: When you see women being disrespected, speak up.]
[We see the full group on the video conference, then focus in on the offender looking uncomfortable.]
[An end graphic appears on screen to read: Do something, because doing nothing does harm - This is followed by an Our Watch logo and text that reads: End violence against women and their children – at the bottom, the text reads: doingnothingdoesharm.org.au]
Speak up
Next time, speak up about disrespectful behaviour:
- Question sexist jokes: ‘I don’t get what’s funny?’
- Focus on the behaviour: ‘That comment was out of line’
- Purposely change the topic: ‘Seriously? Let’s move on’
- Make a joke: ‘C’mon, aren’t we better than that?’
- Ask them to stop: ‘Alright, that’s enough’.