Work is ‘sexually treacherous’ for women – Robinson

TV PRESENTER Anne Robinson has said women must accept that workplaces are “sexually treacherous” environments.

Speaking about sexual harassment, the 73-year-old said that “I certainly didn’t run crying to the loo” if a man “tried to pat my bum”.

The ex-host of The Weakest Link

said women were “still having to put up with inappropriate behaviour from men while not doing anything about it”.

She told Radio Times magazine: “I’m still not sure that younger women have worked out what they want.

“I thought my generation had broken the glass ceiling on the journey to equality.

“But having passed on the warrior baton that enabled women to become prime ministers and heads of city institutions, it transpires they we’re still having to put up with inappropriate behaviour from men while not doing anything about it.”

Robinson, inset, has made a new BBC documentary which explores provocative issues around equality, including recent sexual harassment controversies. The presenter said: “It angers me why this behaviour has been allowed to go on for so long. “I was also really shocked that women further up the pole weren’t doing more to curtail it. “But workplaces are politically and sexually treacherous and I’m afraid women do have to accept that.” Robinson said: “It’s important for women to show their strength and make it clear they’re not going to put up with this rubbish.” As a young newspaper reporter, Robinson encountered sexual harassment at political conferences, with “trade union leaders chasing me up the stairs of Brighton’s Grand Hotel. “It sounds ghastly but I just thought it terribly funny.” She said Tory and Labour conferences “were exactly the same”.