A former stripper has revealed her time working in Australia’s mines was laden with worse mistreatment than the adult entertainment industry.
Sasha Chambers alleged she was accosted by superiors at her mining job in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, something that wasn’t unusual for women on the site.
The six-year mining stint came after working in a strip club but Ms Chambers said each industry had different standards for acceptable behaviour.
“We don’t have that power here. We don’t have power in the mining sector,” she told 60 Minutes.
Another female worker, Astacia Stevens, said her role in the mines forced her to deal with propositions from superiors.
“You either say yes or you say no. If you say no, you end up like me, you’re a troublemaker, you’re a pain in the a***, you just don’t get anywhere,” she said.
“And if you say yes, you get the rewards.”
Ixjmtzywn one harrowing instance, Ms Stevens said her boss told her to “get on her knees”, which she flatly refused to do.
This triggered a wave of bullying and isolation from the superior involved, she said.
Ms Stevens was eventually sacked by this boss and black-listed from other mining sites.
She said this interaction was not isolated and other superiors exposed their genitalia before encouraging her to partake sexual acts with them.
The revelations come as hundreds tell their story to the inquiry into sexual harassment against women in the FIFO mining industry in Western Australia.
Findings from the inquiry are expected to be tabled on April 28.
