The fact we are actually debating in 2016 whether it's OK for a woman to be belittled and humiliated by a man while she is trying to do her job shows we have a long way to go, writes Amanda Bresnan.

Over recent weeks, we have seen a series of incidents in which women have been treated inappropriately by men. It just so happens that these incidents have involved high-profile men humiliating women in high-profile jobs, in areas traditionally dominated by men - politics, journalism and sport.

This is something I experienced when I was a member of the ACT Parliament. I actually haven't talked about the incident that occurred to me for some time, but the recent incidents, and the public reactions to any woman suggesting sexism might be a problem, have prompted me to write about it.

There has been much debate about this issue on social media, with some of the arguments being along the lines of 'come on girls, it's just a joke, a bit of fun, just some light hearted flirting'. But it's not - it's actually much more than a bit of politically incorrect fun.

Mel McLaughlin, a highly regarded sports journalist, is doing her job in front thousands of people when a supposedly professional sportsperson decides - in her workplace - that he'll hit on her and then say, "Don't blush, baby." Maybe not what someone would call or interpret as respectful.

Then there's the extremely brave young woman who decided to make a complaint about Jamie Briggs' behaviour at a bar - a difficult thing to do in any circumstance, but even more so when the person you are making a complaint about is a Minister of the Australian Government. A photo gets circulated of the young woman by the said minister and it is then leaked to the media, seemingly attempting to show that she wasn't actually hurt by the incident, but was rather having a great time. I cannot fathom the Government's decision not to treat this as a matter to be investigated.

I was a woman in politics as a Greens member of the ACT Legislative Assembly for four years from 2008-2012, and early on in my tenure there was an incident involving two of my male Assembly colleagues - an incident which, like those experienced by Mel McLaughlin and the female diplomat, involved a woman being treated with disrespect by her male colleagues.

I was at a fundraising function run by another MLA. During the function, the two men - one Labor and one Liberal - and I were asked to get up on stage to promote part of the fundraiser. My two colleagues decided between themselves, and totally against my will, to pick me up and pretend to throw me off the stage. I was physically picked up, all the while saying 'no, no', and swung back and forth. I had to hold on to them to stop myself from falling backwards.

I'm a fairly small woman, so hey, I should expect people to come along and whisk me off my feet. A bit of fun, just a light-hearted joke.

It was humiliating and physically intimidating, and not something that would have happened to a male MLA or even another female MLA. I was absolutely mortified, and thinking about it now still makes me cringe. I carried on with the evening, as running out the door crying probably wasn't the best reaction.

The more I thought about it, the more I knew I had to take a stand and say that what happened wasn't appropriate, given the men involved obviously thought this was the level of seriousness my tenure deserved. I knew that if I didn't do anything, the incident would be given tacit approval, but I also knew that doing something would lead to the inevitable line of 'you just overreacted'. I actually suspect some of the men around me thought I was overreacting and that these poor blokes were going to pay for my sensitivity.

I did make a complaint to both members in question, it ended up in the media, and as per the incidents involving Mel McLaughlin and the young female diplomat with Jamie Briggs, I got the same reaction. A letter was written to the Canberra Times saying I had no sense of humour - that there was nothing wrong with what happened and I should get over it. Other comments came from people who purported to have seen me leave the function laughing and having a good time, so obviously I enjoyed what happened. Sound familiar?

In this instance, like any female politician, diplomat or journalist, I was doing my job. I should be able to do this while being treated with the same regard and respect as any of my work colleagues. I don't think this is too much to expect.

The fact we are actually debating in 2016 whether it's OK for a woman to be belittled and humiliated by a man while she is trying to do her job indicates it is still too much to expect, and that we have a long way to go in achieving equality for women. I have no doubt I will receive the same reaction to this piece in 2016 that I did in 2009 when I stood up for myself.

The fact is, only a woman can know what it's like when you are working bloody hard to gain the respect of colleagues only to have that thrown back at you. A while back on Twitter, after Julia Gillard made her misogyny speech, I was commenting about the difficulty of being a woman in politics when a man (who didn't realise I knew who he was) effectively told me to get over it. When I said, actually, you don't know what it's like, you're a man, the response was, "I don't have to have heart surgery to know it hurts."

Actually, you do have to be the person in that situation to know what it's truly like. As sports journalist Neroli Meadows said in regards to the Mel McLauglin incident, listen to what we are saying, we are the ones experiencing this and it's simply not funny. We are in our workplaces trying to do our jobs; we are professionals, just like you, so treat us with respect.

It's a pretty simple fact to get.

Amanda Bresnan was an elected member of the ACT Legislative Assembly for the ACT Greens from 2008-2012. She is currently a board member of AIVL - the Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League, president of Asthma Foundation ACT, and a member of the Asthma Australia Board.