"The issue isn't only men harassing women and it isn't only women being harassed," Ms Jenkins said. "We are not looking for villains," she said.

A survey by an online mentoring platform, Art of Mentoring, found that the proportion of men who felt uncomfortable working alone with a female colleague had surged to 15 per cent from 7 per cent since the launch of #MeToo, an international movement against sexual harassment and assault.

The proportion of men who said they felt uncomfortable attending evening work events with a female colleague had risen to 13 per cent from 7 per cent, while the proportion of men who felt uncomfortable mentoring a female colleague doubled to 6 per cent.

By contrast, women reported that in most cases they felt more comfortable with working alone with men or socialising with them.

The proportion of men who said they felt uncomfortable attending evening work events with a female colleague had risen to 13 per cent from 7 per cent. Gabriele Charotte

Art of Mentoring managing director Melissa Richardson warned that any change in male attitudes towards working with women would hinder women and their ability to get ahead in the workplace.

"There are many things men and women need to do together. [If that doesn't occur] you are potentially reducing opportunities for women in the workplace. It's terrible for their careers," Ms Richardson said.

"Women could miss out on mentoring opportunities. And career building opportunities often happen outside the day to day activities [in the office]. That's often when decisions about who gets promoted are made, and when deals get done," she said.


As a result, the Art of Mentoring executive said she feared there may be unintended consequences from the national inquiry into workplace harassment.

"We have got to get the message out that men and women need to continue to work together," she said.

Ms Jenkins, a lawyer by training, said men and women who had experienced sexual harassment were free to make a submission to the national inquiry, which is expected to cost $900,000, or make a formal complaint to the sex discrimination commission, or both.

As part of her investigation, Ms Jenkins will consider the adequacy of existing laws that make sexual harassment unlawful at work before making a series of recommendations to the government by August 2019.

Ms Jenkins said she would consider "all options in terms of legal avenues", including the possibility of criminal penalties for offenders.

More than 20 per cent of people aged over 15 in Australia have been sexually harassed, with 68 per cent of those cases in the workplace.