'Sick with fear' | Claims of sexual misconduct raised by senior female staff at MoD

Sixty women working at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) have written a letter describing a ‘toxic’ and hostile work environment, claiming multiple accounts of sexual assault and harassment.

The letter was sent to David Williams, the MoD’s permanent secretary, by a group of senior female civil servants, who described anonymised accounts and a workplace culture that is “hostile to women as equal respected partners” and left female employees feeling “sick with fear”.

The document said the organisation’s “complaints system is not fit for purpose” as those women who attempted to speak up would be “minimised rather than listened to”.

“(Our) day-to-day professional lives are made difficult thanks to behaviours that would be considered toxic and inappropriate in public life, but that are tolerated at the MoD,” read the letter from the MoD.