In its first 18 months, what has NOW done?

It brought together lawyers for a legal roundtable to discuss ways to tackle #MeToo in April 2018. In February 2019 it made a thorough submission to the Human Rights Commission’s sexual harassment inquiry. It signed on to a joint statement calling for action from governments and employers to prevent workplace sexual harassment. It collaborated with Fair Agenda to publish an election scorecard ahead of the federal election in May. It hosted and organised several events.

It has a new executive director: Genevieve Burnett. She describes sexual harassment as a “wicked problem”, one that is “created by humans and incredibly difficult to solve”. After all, 85% of Australian women have experienced sexual harassment, but only 17% of people who experienced it in the workplace in the last five years made a formal complaint or report.

The beginning was “rushed” and littered with mistakes, she said. Now, Burnett — who has been on the NOW steering committee since the beginning — wants to build on Ziwica’s work to turn NOW into an organisation that effectively fights that wicked problem.

“When I took on this role it was on the basis that the focus would shift from high-profile coverage and splash to becoming more of an organisation focused on quality work that actually helps people,” she told BuzzFeed News.

NOW has scaled back its ambitions, with two projects in the pipeline. The first is an “equality and justice fund”, which will fund strategic litigation for people fighting workplace sexual harassment, like Time’s Up’s fund. The first thing the fund will support is NOW’s second project: expanding an online tool that provides resources and connects people to pro bono legal advice to cover sexual harassment. Burnett believes the latter will be a crucial tool for survivors.

The hurdle is money. NOW only ever raised about $130,000, well short of the $250,000 it had hoped for on launch. It needs $50,000 to pay for the online portal, and then more for the fund. The organisation would also like a full-time executive director; Burnett and Ziwica were both hired on a part-time basis because of funding constraints.

Loch declined to share NOW’s most recent accounts because they had not yet been audited. The June 2018 accounts show just over $100,000 on hand, the remaining $30,000 or so from the crowdfunding spent on salary, insurance and consultancy fees.

An auspicing agreement with feminist organisation YWCA means NOW can accept tax-deductible donations, but its current crowdfunding campaign is well short of its target of $30,000. It won’t be receiving Spicer’s Sydney Peace Prize money — her share of $50,000 — as she has pledged it to a non-profit supporting Aboriginal victims of family violence.

Loch told BuzzFeed News NOW would seek corporate donations, as well as speaking to philanthropists and foundations. “We had hoped that government funding might be an option. There’s not an appetite for that in this environment and we’re parking that,” she said.

Despite funding woes, and feeling chastened by their earlier mistakes, the women at NOW are cautiously optimistic. “We won’t ever match the size of Time’s Up, but we’re certainly looking to have the impact that Time’s Up is having,” Loch said.

The triage service did not get off the ground, but Ziwica believes there’s still a need for a well funded referral service for those experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace.

She wants to see the remit of 1800RESPECT expanded to include sexual harassment, as well as extra funding for state-based services.

Ziwica said that robust debate is important “particularly within feminist and activist circles” when drafting a road map for change. She believes the #MeToo movement in Australia still has hope, as defined by essayist Rebecca Solnit in Hope in the Dark, who wrote that hope is not like “a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky” but an “axe you break down doors with in an emergency”.

“I feel that for #MeToo in Australia there are a number of women who spoke out who are forging that axe that they are intending to break down that door with,” Ziwica said.

Dhanya Mani has in some ways been operating her own one-woman triage model. Since going public with her story, Mani has been contacted by dozens of women with their stories of sexual harassment across the political spectrum “perpetrated by politicians, senior party members and union officials”.

She has linked them to legal and media resources and supported them personally, sharing her knowledge of criminal law for advice on things like making a police complaint.

“I’ve been staying up all hours of the night on hours long phone calls talking to women, supporting women and I’ve been feeling incredibly alarmed because … these stories reveal things that are worse than I could ever have imagined.”

It is these women — survivors — who Ziwica wishes were accepting the Sydney Peace Prize next month.

“That might have been a nice way to honour the contribution that they have made, which was significant, and bears repeating time and time again.” ●

If you or someone you know is experiencing violence and needs help or support, there are national and state-based agencies that can assist you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).