Yahoo News Trevor Phillips says he was complicit in sexual harassment of young women in television industry
Trevor Phillips, the former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, has admitted he was “complicit” in workplace harassment of young women during his time as a television executive.
Mr Phillips, who was head of current affairs for London Weekend Television (LWT) and has also made programmes for the BBC and Channel 4, said he had downplayed the predatory behaviour of male colleagues.
“After [Harvey] Weinstein, this has been an issue for everyone in the entertainment industry,” he told a panel discussing diversity at the Royal Television Society conference in London.
“When I was active in television, we would get a new young person, usually a young woman, in the office and say the usual, ‘There’s the coffee machine, there’s the photocopier, there’s your desk’, all that sort of stuff.
"But then we’d say, ‘Hold on, everybody here is very nice, but try not to get into a lift with Pete. He’s a brilliant guy, he pays all our mortgages, but I think he’s a little bit weird’.
“That was us dealing with harassment. The truth is, we were complicit. We’d like to say it has changed. But it hasn’t.”
Mr Phillips worked as a researcher at LWT before becoming its head of current affairs in 1992. In his role as head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, he was a vocal critic of the gender pay gap, describing it as “morally wrong”.
The Royal Television Society event included Mark McLane, head of inclusion for Barclays. Asked what someone in Mr Phillips’ position should do, Mr McLane replied: “You have to speak up and say it’s not right. Your allowing things to happen is acceptance. That sends the message that it is OK.”
The truth is, we were complicit. We’d like to say it has changed. But it hasn’t
Trevor Phillips
A report last year into the television industry found that 54 per cent of those questioned had experienced sexual harassment at work, most of them within the past five years, and 84 per cent of those who experienced such behaviour did not report it.
Only 47 per cent understood their legal rights over reporting abuse, while 68 per cent said they had been aware of sexual harassment and bullying happening to others at work.
The panel also discussed where to spend money to improve diversity. Mr Phillips, who chairs the National Equality Standard, the equality assessment initiative, said: “There is a danger that British television could end up like the British aristocracy: a limited pool of rather inbred talent.” He was speaking to an audience of television executives that was almost entirely white.
