HAYLEY’S FIGHT FOR RESPECT
rooms, mediation, lawyers’ offices, and in therapy, and countless tears, frustration and traumatic flashbacks, the former naval offficer has been given the respect she has deserved – and demanded – for half a decade.
Hayley Browne, nee Young, was serving in the Royal New Zealand Navy in 2009 when she experienced sexual harassment and abuse at the hands of her colleagues while on deployment to the United Kingdom. She also alleges she was raped by a British colleague.
The marine engineer decided not to press charges against the man she says raped her – but she did quit the navy, and penned a letter to the New Zealand Defence Force outlining her deep concern at the culture that saw her objectified, harassed, mistreated, and she and other women characterised as “conquests” that their male colleagues bet buckets of KFC on “winning”.
“People use violence – including emotional and sexual violence – to gain power,” says Hayley. “Unconsciously, I believe, these men didn’t like a woman having authority over them. Violence was their answer.”
To rub salt in the wound, a photograph of Hayley was used in an NZ navy advertising campaign without her knowledge or permission, which – given her negative experiences there – deeply disturbed her.
Now, she finally has what she’s repeatedly asked for – a full written apology from the Defence Force, issued last week, and an invitation to meet with the Chief of Navy and other top brass to discuss how to shift the culture and make the navy a place where everybody, regardless of their gender, is safe.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” says Hayley with a wide smile. “I feel I have a unique insight to share and, as an engineer who likes to solve problems, I’ve spent a long time thinking about what the navy could introduce to improve things. I’ve made about three pages of notes already,” she laughs.
Best of all, she tells, she’s had “plenty of time to heal, lots of therapy and I’m not going in there as a broken person. I’m going in to help the navy with their understanding of the things that happened to me, but objectively and without emotion. I hope they will feel comfortable enough to ask me questions about whatever they need to know to move forward.”
Hayley, who began her legal journey as a single woman, is no wallflower. Her drive and determination is extraordinary, and she readily admits that any man in her life needed to be “OK with my Hayleyness!”
She has met her match in Dan Browne. The 29-year-old owns a video production company and first laid eyes on his future wife in 2014, when she approached him about creating some content for her. While it wasn’t exactly love at first sight, Hayley later received the company’s Christmas video message – featuring Dan wearing a leotard and dancing to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies”. She was sold.
However, Hayley had already embarked on legal action against the Defence Force and falling in love wasn’t on the agenda. “I was taking on two governments,” she explains. “It takes quite a man to be OK about that. So although I had feelings for him, I put him in the friend zone for about six months. In fact, I asked him to be my support person, thinking that would be a really good way to keep things platonic while I dealt with my legal battle. That lasted about two weeks,” she laughs.
Hayley was open about her traumatic past from the very start, and Dan took it all in his stride.