Cabinet minister rejects national misogyny and racism inquiry
Desk report: A national inquiry into institutional misogyny and racism in the workplace has been rejected by the government.
The inquiry was called for by the authors of a damning report into London Fire Brigade’s workplace culture.
It found “dangerous levels of prejudice against women” while those from minority backgrounds were “frequently the target of racist abuse”.
Nazir Afzal, who led the report, said it was a national issue and called for a wider inquiry.
The London Fire Brigade (LFB) report, which was based on the experiences of hundreds of staff members, made 23 recommendations.
It listed a number of instances of abuse and poor behaviour at almost all levels of the brigade including:
- Multiple cases of bullying “and the targeting of ethnic minorities and women”, with some complaints not investigated
- A black firefighter had a noose put by his locker
- Women “sexually taunted”, including one who received video calls from a man exposing his genitalia
- Men “huddled around a screen watching porn” at some fire stations
- A Muslim firefighter, bullied because of his faith, had bacon put in his sandwich by colleagues
