Female RAF officer wins £2,000 payout after male colleague told her to ‘grow a pair’
A female RAF officer has won a £2,000 payout after her male colleague told her to “grow a pair”.
Anne Rubery first made an allegation that she had been “mistreated, undermined, unsupported and mismanaged in the workplace by her chain of command” in a formal complaint of “bullying and discrimination” to an Employment Appeal Tribunal.
Additionally, the Squadron Leader alleged that “sexist and discriminatory language” had been used by senior colleagues.
Two Wing Commanders, referred to as Wg Cdr Bradley and Wg Cdr Ward, denied the female officer’s allegations, saying she was “ballsy” and should “grow a pair”.
A RAF investigation dismissed her complaints, deeming that the above statements could be used to refer to “both genders equally”.
The Decision Body said that Wg Cdr Bradley was responsible for his “poorly judged comments” but they did not qualify as bullying or discrimination.
Rubery received an apology and was assured that the RAF would learn from her complaints.
The Squadron Leader, who has served for over three decades, escalated the issue to an Appeal Body, which quickly dismissed her case as well.
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However, the officer later brought her case forward to the Service Complains Ombudsman for the Armed Forces (SCOAF), who subsequently criticised the way the case was handled by the RAF.
The report found an “overly masculine culture” in her unit and a “disregard for the female workforce”.
The ombudsman criticised the Ministry of Defence for its failure to acknowledge “wholly inappropriate” emails objectifying women.
While Rubery’s complaint was partly upheld, the SCOAF recommended that the RAF apologise to the Squadron Leader, along with a compensation package of up to £2,000.
While the ombudsman said that she did not experience bullying and harassment, the investigation found that that RAF should learn “wider lessons” from the situation.
The report said: “The fact that no one was apparently offended by or challenged the use of this language is no excuse for its use.”
The RAF has the largest percentage of women in comparison to the other arms of the British Armed Forces, and is “working hard to make sure that it is a place where everyone is treated equally”, its recruitment website claims.
According to Government figures from April, only 11.7 per cent of positions in the UK Regular Forces were held by women.