A campaign to end the misuse of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and other unjust tools and laws that silence women across Australia
A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a legal obligation that requires confidentiality.
These agreements are widely used in sexual harassment and discrimination disputes. They require women who suffered harassment to keep their experience completely confidential or partly confidential – that is, they are not allowed to talk about what happened to them.
In circumstances where a woman does not want to stay silent, the insistence of confidentiality is a complete misuse of NDAs by employers or parties in positions of power.
Although NDAs mostly require all parties (employer, woman with experience of harassment, and the perpetrator) to maintain confidentiality, the agreement is almost always requested by the employer and perpetrator, not the employee.
Often the NDA serves the employer and perpetrator’s interests, and not the woman with experience of harassment.
NDAs are too often used as a bargaining tool that forces women with experience of harassment to feel they must choose between achieving compensation for the harms they have suffered and speaking out to create broader awareness or change.
This coercive dynamic can leave women with experience of harassment feeling silenced, isolated, and fearful of the potential ramifications of even accidental disclosure to friends or family. While some women may wish to seek confidentiality (e.g. to protect their privacy, cultural context, or future employment prospects), many do not want an NDA at all.
We need to shift the balance of power back to women by reducing the coercive use of NDAs, ensuring women with experience of harassment retain greater control and autonomy over their story and the terms of resolution. This will promote safety and wellbeing by allowing disclosure where necessary (e.g. to seek support or warn others) and ensure monetary settlements focus on substantive remedies such as compensation, workplace change, or apologies – rather than silence.
Importantly, health risks of keeping secrets are well documented and can lead to post traumatic stress disorders, among other illnesses. The ability to speak and putting experiences into words will assist survivors in the healing process.
We want laws to ensure NDAs can only be used if the woman wants one. When a woman wants an NDA, the terms of those NDAs must be fair, reasonable and not used to cover up unsafe work practices and gendered violence.
Our campaign focuses on three key areas of work:
Join us to build a movement in solidarity with women with experience of workplace harassment and discrimination and to push for strong laws in Australia that will end the silencing of women.
If you are considering signing an NDA and have not had legal advice, please get in touch with your local Working Women’s Centre.
A campaign to end the misuse of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and other unjust tools and laws that silence women across Australia
A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a legal obligation that requires confidentiality.
These agreements are widely used in sexual harassment and discrimination disputes. They require women who suffered harassment to keep their experience completely confidential or partly confidential – that is, they are not allowed to talk about what happened to them.
In circumstances where a woman does not want to stay silent, the insistence of confidentiality is a complete misuse of NDAs by employers or parties in positions of power.
Although NDAs mostly require all parties (employer, woman with experience of harassment, and the perpetrator) to maintain confidentiality, the agreement is almost always requested by the employer and perpetrator, not the employee.
Often the NDA serves the employer and perpetrator’s interests, and not the woman with experience of harassment.
NDAs are too often used as a bargaining tool that forces women with experience of harassment to feel they must choose between achieving compensation for the harms they have suffered and speaking out to create broader awareness or change.
This coercive dynamic can leave women with experience of harassment feeling silenced, isolated, and fearful of the potential ramifications of even accidental disclosure to friends or family. While some women may wish to seek confidentiality (e.g. to protect their privacy, cultural context, or future employment prospects), many do not want an NDA at all.
We need to shift the balance of power back to women by reducing the coercive use of NDAs, ensuring women with experience of harassment retain greater control and autonomy over their story and the terms of resolution. This will promote safety and wellbeing by allowing disclosure where necessary (e.g. to seek support or warn others) and ensure monetary settlements focus on substantive remedies such as compensation, workplace change, or apologies – rather than silence.
Importantly, health risks of keeping secrets are well documented and can lead to post traumatic stress disorders, among other illnesses. The ability to speak and putting experiences into words will assist survivors in the healing process.
We want laws to ensure NDAs can only be used if the woman wants one. When a woman wants an NDA, the terms of those NDAs must be fair, reasonable and not used to cover up unsafe work practices and gendered violence.
Our campaign focuses on three key areas of work:
Join us to build a movement in solidarity with women with experience of workplace harassment and discrimination and to push for strong laws in Australia that will end the silencing of women.
If you are considering signing an NDA and have not had legal advice, please get in touch with your local Working Women’s Centre.
Last week, our national team met in Sydney with the Working Women’s Centre network to discuss our joint advocacy goals and strengthen collaboration.
Across the day, we tackled big conversations about:
– The legal profession’s conduct obligations and the use of NDAs in cases of workplace sexual harassment and gendered violence.
– Updates on our Activist Training and national campaign strategy, challenging the silencing of women in workplaces.
– Using WHS frameworks to prevent gendered violence and strengthen employer responsibilities.
These discussions are a vital part of our ongoing national effort to make workplaces safer for all women. While we meet regularly online, it was especially valuable to bring the network together face to face.
A huge thank you to Gilbert + Tobin for providing the space, catering, and facilities that made this gathering possible.
WWCA ran its first Media Advocacy Program from 15 to 17 August 2025 in Adelaide, which laid the foundation of building the first cohort of the WWC Activist Network. The Program was themed around the ‘Our Silence Is Not for Sale’ Campaign.
To recap, the Program was a:
The participants of the Program comprised of five (5) lived experience activists – two (2) from WWC QLD, two (2) from WWC ACT and one (1) from WWC SA. The Program was a success, and we achieved our objectives. We received positive feedback from the participants informally and formally (via our training evaluation forms) and took on some learnings as a team on how we can make the next Program an even better experience for our activists.
As per the evaluation forms, examples of what the participants took away from the Program were:
WWCA is grateful for all the support from the Network that made this Program possible. We acknowledge and recognise that not all Centres were able to recruit and send activists to Adelaide this time around, but we are equally grateful to Centres that have contributed to cover the costs for activists from other Centres to be part of the Program. We also would like to personally thank Anne Purdy, Deputy Director from WWC SA who co-facilitated the training with WWCA, and Devina Saberi, Community Engagement and Training Officer from WWC QLD who contributed her skills, passion and expertise in filming and photography during the Program.
The video and audio content from the Program is currently in post-production stage, and it will take a few months for the final product to be finalised. We will keep the Network updated on the progress of this work.
In terms of next steps for the WWC Activist Network, our five activists have been giving us valuable insights and ideas on the national campaign during and after the Program, and WWCA is currently working on designing more advocacy opportunities for them to be involved in. With support of their local WWC, we will let them know if any of the following campaign opportunities come up such as:
If you have any upcoming campaign events or activities that you would like the activists to know about, please let Aira know.
Now available to watch: The online launch of the Speaking From Experience report by the Australian Human Rights Commission.
The panel explores the report’s key findings and recommendations to better prevent and respond to workplace sexual harassment — informed by the voices of people with lived experience.
After hearing from survivors about what needs to change, the AHRC is calling for national legislative change to stop the misuse of Non-Disclosure Agreements in sexual harassment and discrimination matters.
Commissioner Anna Cody hosted a panel discussion with:
Read the full report: Speaking from Experience Report – What needs to change to address workplace sexual harassment
Now available to watch: The online launch of the Speaking From Experience report by the Australian Human Rights Commission.
The panel explores the report’s key findings and recommendations to better prevent and respond to workplace sexual harassment — informed by the voices of people with lived experience.
After hearing from survivors about what needs to change, the AHRC is calling for national legislative change to stop the misuse of Non-Disclosure Agreements in sexual harassment and discrimination matters.
Commissioner Anna Cody hosted a panel discussion with:
📖 Read the full report: Speaking from Experience Report – What needs to change to address workplace sexual harassment
Let’s Talk About Confidentiality is a research report published on 6 March 2024 by Sharmilla Bargon (Working Women’s Centre NSW) and Regina Featherstone (Human Rights Law Centre), inaugural Social Justice Practitioners-in-Residence at the University of Sydney.
The report investigates how sexual harassment practitioners resolve out-of-court settlements and approach confidentiality terms. It builds on the Respect@Work Report, which warned that NDAs risk silencing victim-survivors and protecting harassers. Recommendation 38 of that report called for best-practice guidelines and an end to NDAs being treated as the default in every case.
Through research with Australian legal practitioners and international comparisons, the authors examined how the misuse of NDAs is being addressed — including legislative reforms and reframing it as a professional conduct and governance issue.
The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has developed guidelines to assist in deciding when and how confidentiality clauses may be used in settlement agreements for workplace sexual harassment claims.
The guidelines emphasise that confidentiality clauses should:
The Australian Human Rights Commission has just launched the Speaking from Experience report — a landmark initiative that places the voices of people with lived experience of workplace sexual harassment at the centre of efforts to drive systemic change.
At Working Women’s Centre Australia (WWCA), we are proud to have supported this vital project, welcoming and encouraging women and gender-diverse workers to help shape the national conversation. This report provides crucial insights into what real change looks like, directly from those who have experienced harm.
The report amplifies the voices of over 300 victim-survivors from diverse backgrounds, highlighting what needs to change in Australian workplaces to address sexual harassment effectively. It focuses on lived experience insights, especially from workers facing intersecting forms of discrimination (e.g. race, disability, gender identity, migration status).
It shows that meaningful change is driven by women and gender-diverse people, guided by advocates who deeply understand these issues. There is enormous potential for greater collaboration between policymakers, employers, and advocacy organisations like WWCA to co-design better solutions. When advocates help lead the way, we can achieve genuine, lasting reform that creates safer and more respectful workplaces.
The recommendations in the Speaking from Experience report outline practical steps to create safer, fairer, and more respectful workplaces. They focus on reducing barriers that prevent workers — especially those from diverse and marginalised backgrounds — from accessing information, safety, support, and justice after experiencing workplace sexual harassment.
A key recommendation calls for funding specialist organisations — including Working Women’s Centres, multicultural services, LGBTIQA+ organisations, youth centres, disability services, women’s services, and First Nations organisations — to deliver accessible, culturally appropriate education and outreach on workplace sexual harassment. The report also calls for stronger community awareness, culturally safe and trauma-informed responses, restrictions on non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), better data collection, greater employer accountability, and investment in solutions guided by lived experience. Together, these recommendations aim to drive meaningful change and build workplaces where everyone can feel safe and valued.
Watch the Panel Discussion: online launch of the Speaking from Experience report, sharing diverse voices and calling for an end to NDA misuse.
Speaking from Experience and Non-Disclosure Agreements
One of the critical barriers identified in Speaking from Experience is the widespread use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in workplace sexual harassment cases. These agreements often silence victim-survivors and prevent advocates from speaking out.
The report calls for NDAs to be used only at the request of the victim-survivor, ensuring they are a tool for safety and empowerment rather than a means of shielding perpetrators. Ending the harmful misuse of NDAs is not just an Australian concern — it is part of a growing global movement to promote transparency, accountability, and the right to advocate for safer workplaces.
Our Silence is Not for Sale
In line with the Speaking from Experience report’s recommendations, WWCA supports calls for a national media campaign to raise awareness, drive prevention, and promote trauma-informed responses to workplace sexual harassment.
This aligns with our Our Silence is Not for Sale campaign, which advocates for an end to the misuse of NDAs that silence victim-survivors and block systemic change. We need laws in Australia that make NDAs unenforceable when used by the powerful to hide harmful information about serious workplace issues — and that give working women the right and power to continue speaking up. NDAs should only be used when requested by victim-survivors.
We also endorse the recommendation to expand access to justice, including the development of restorative justice options, and to restrict the use of NDAs unless requested by the victim-survivor.
Reach out to us if you want to be part of the movement! Join the ‘Our Silence is Not for Sale’ campaign – fill out the WWC National NDA Campaign form today!
Time for Action
We congratulate the Speaking from Experience contributors who bravely shared their experiences. The Australian Human Rights Commission has prepared resources for workers, employers, and advocates to support prevention efforts and raise awareness — all guided by lived experience.
👉 Explore the new resources: Australian Human Rights Commission Workplace Sexual Harassment Resources
👉 To read the Speaking from Experience full report: Speaking from Experience Report – What needs to change to address workplace sexual harassment
Domestic workers in Timor-Leste have launched their first union — the result of years of organising by the Working Women’s Centre Timor- Leste, focused on improving conditions for domestic workers who have long been excluded from formal labour protections.
Congratulations to the Domestic workers of Timor-Leste on this incredible milestone, and to Abelita Sousa Li Soares, board member of the Working Women’s Centre Timor-Leste, who is the newly elected President.
Together with Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA, we look forward to continuing to work in solidarity with international trade unions and strengthening the power of global collectivism.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Working Women’s Centre Timor Leste, follow them here: https://www.facebook.com/WWCTL