On 24th Feb, our consultant was invited to attend a Consultation on Sexual Harassment at the Workplace organised in Mumbai by the Maharashtra State Commisssion for Women. Find below some of what the speakers said that day.
Thansky Thekkekara, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Maharashtra:
From personal experience, I can say that we are all exposed to sexual harassment at the workplace and the way we deal with it is because of our social indoctrination, which sometimes makes us ignore it.
Even in the government, there is some amount of taking the issue lightly. In some cases, the Complaints Committee members themselves are heavily biased towards or in awe of the accused man.
In many cases of sexual harassment at the workplace, there is a tendency to malign the woman, to castigate her as a troublemaker. In one instance, I was very upset when other women employees were also isolating the woman who had reported sexual harassment. She would eat alone in the office. Other women were scared to be seen with her.
In many cases, complaints were filed to the Commission but there was no just resolution of the case. One woman wanted to commit suicide. She told me she had to go through a very hard time after working for 15 years in that organisation.
That is why we must analyse these legislations regarding The Protection of Women Against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2010 and see whether they will work or not.
Lawrence Summers, the President of Harvard University, had to resign after there was an outcry over his speech in which he suggested that the under-representation of women in science and engineering could be due to a “different availability of aptitude at the high end”. Harvard appointed a lady to succeed him... to prove a point as well.
In 2010, after he was controversially accused by a former colleague of sexual harassment, David Davidar, a famous novelist and publisher, was let go by Penguin. We don’t know the story behind the story, but the lady filed a case and he had to resign.
Abroad, they take these issues more seriously.
I know of a 40-year-old good-looking woman who was a housewife. Her husband’s friend asked her husband to let her join his photo studio as a receptionist and she did. On the first or second day, he enticed her, took advantage of her we don’t know if what happened was by mutual consent but he had taken pictures and videos of her and forced her to keep continuing to come. Quite some time passed. One day, he asked her to bring her 17-year-old daughter along. She got scared and told her husband about it. He was a nice man and sought our help. I called the police.
Meera Borwankar explained to the man that action will be taken against him by the police if the harassment doesn’t stop. And it stopped. This was more of an individual-based solution. Redressal by judicial mechanisms may not always work.
Nirmala Samant (Former chairperson of Maharashtra State Women's Commission) would say that sometimes establishments will deal with legislation by hiring fewer women employees. So, we need to be conscious that our Bill does not end up doing that.
Women who use The Protection of Women Against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill inappropriately should be discouraged by some kind of peer pressure so that the provisions are used for legitimate reasons.
Whenever the government has taken up any proactive legislation, different arms of the government have made it very successful. For example, a ban on smoking in public places.
The PCPNDT ((Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques) Act makes all clinics display the following notice: ‘Disclosure of the sex of the foetus is prohibited under law'.
Will it be desirable to put up a similar notice? Like ‘Sexual harassment won’t be tolerated here.' Or 'We are a gender-friendly place. We have zero tolerance against sexual harassment at the workplace.’ Such awareness itself could lead to a reduction in the number of the cases.
The role of the media needs to be looked at too. The Sahara group gives full-page ads in newspapers, hence a story about a sexual harassment case in that company (Sahara Manoranjan) was not reported widely by the media.
Vandana Krishna, Principal Secretary, Women and Child Development, Government of Maharashtra:
Sexual harassment at the workplace is one of the most difficult subjects to handle. Our system is very women-unfriendly in this regard and on other issues. We have to accept that we have not been able to change our systems much.
Technology is moving very fast, but we still don’t use video conferencing on a regular basis. It is possible that a woman’s statement is recorded once and then she is not called repeatedly for cross-questioning. No technology can make a woman feel strong and come forward to report sexual harassment at the workplace though.
The least we can do when such cases come to our notice is to support the woman mentally, encourage her to come out and complain. The woman shouldn’t look back after years and feel that it was the most traumatic experience of her life.
In government, everything is based on hierarchy. Subordinates are always afraid of antagonising their bosses.
Is the verdict of the Complaints Committee often strong enough to suspend the guilty man? The committee can only give a recommendation but can’t withhold his increment or dismiss him. Often, only minor punishments may be levied – 'thapka thevne', as they say. Just admonishing the man and asking him to not do it in the future.
In worse cases, some increments are stopped. Maybe we need something drastic where the man has to acknowledge publicly or amidst peers that he made a mistake or apologise. I am just thinking aloud. I know that these are not conventional punishments, but the subject is such that it needs out-of-the-box thinking. Unless we change the smugness or superiority that the abuser feels, we won’t achieve much.
Much research is also needed about the number of cases reported so far, about the punishments they received, etc.
Anagha Sarpotdar, consultant working on gender issues:
The Protection of Women Against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2010 got introduced in the Lok Sabha. A report that has come out about it is worth reading as it helps know the stand of the members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
Compared to government offices, the mentality in private sector about the issue of sexual harassment at the workplace is very different, almost non-existent. Complaints Committees are formed only when a case emerges.
The status of implementation and prevention efforts are not known. There is no database of how many cases have been reported and we can’t get this information through the RTI Act.
Many companies have a policy that is not in tune with the Supreme Court's Vishakha guidelines. They might just provide a complaints box or ask for an email to be sent. Or they might not include an NGO member in the committee. Or the NGO members might have no orientation on the issue.
In the case of an MNC based in Singapore, the “NGO member” was actually an HR consultant but she posed as an NGO member.
In many cases, complainants are in the dark about the names and the designations of the committee members. No information about the procedure and the results of the enquiry is shared with her. Psychiatrists are appointed to check whether she is mentally ill.
I tell companies that it is contempt of the Supreme Court when they tell me that the Vishakha Guidelines are just guidelines, not mandatory and so, they won’t implement them. They say “File a complaint. We will fight in the court.”
In companies, there is sometimes trivialisation of sexual harassment complaints. They say to a woman “You are an attractive woman and are bound to face such harassment, so you must know how to handle it.”
I have seen that a woman has to at times end up fighting the company, not just the guilty man. The legal expenses of the man are borne by the company but she has to bear her legal expenses.
The first question that comes to mind for many sitting on the committees is whether the woman is telling the truth. There is a strong lack of belief in her complaint.
Revictimisation of the woman happens at two levels – when she protests against the sexual harassment by the harasser, and later by the employer when she files a complaint.
In some cases, the woman’s performance appraisal has been done by the harasser himself. Relevant work is taken away from her and some other work is given to her.
Veena Gowda, women's rights advocate:
Many private sector companies have not acted proactively in constituting a committee. Can we look at certain consequences in the business sector other than criminal consequences to get them to work on this issue seriously?
In a friend’s case, a woman filed a complaint in India but action was not taken. Then she wrote to the Head Office abroad and they took action immediately.
In some companies, in the employee contract, there is – or should be – at least one sentence that says ‘We have zero tolerance against sexual harassment’.
For the Complaints Committee, there is a requirement that one of the members should be connected with women’s issues, but this is a bit ambiguous.
In many cases, we as committee members ask specifically to the woman whether she needs help in meeting a psychological counsellor.
About false and malicious complaints – many times, the complaints are not proved because the wrong act is not of a sexual nature. It may be discrimination or verbal abuse. So, the question of ‘false’ may be ambiguous. Every law in the country is ultimately misused. That shouldn’t stop us from having a Bill, a law on this issue.
There should be no punishment for false or malicious complaints - on the basis of principle. There is already a remedy in law for defamation, fabrication of documents, etc.
When we make recommendations as committee members, we must keep in mind the principles of natural justice. Just because you are on the committee does not mean that you don’t give both parties a chance to be heard. I have told some women complainants “Sorry. He has a right to be heard. He may lose his job if proved guilty.”
Shalini Kamath, Co-Chairperson for the HR Western Sub-Committee of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII):
My experience has been limited to a certain segment of the private sector – to mid-sized to large companies. Each of those organisations has realised that having a larger percentage of women in the workforce is actually beneficial for them.
One is a cost issue. They can get women employees for a bit cheaper. Second, there are more educated women now. Third, the commitment of women is much higher as women get emotionally attached to their work and hence, there is lesser attrition. Also, women think differently and we bring certain things to the table that helps business in the long run.
Most companies have the base framework in place – a basic policy, a committee. Many in the service sector have gone even further.
What has worked is to know what the thinking of the seniormost boss around women in general is – of the CEO, the promoter...
I joined an organisation as Head, HR. Two very senior managers told me that now they expected more and more beautiful women to be hired. So, I sat with them to discuss this.
In my first executive committee meeting at the company, I said that women in this company are treated as sex objects. After two years we did a survey and women employees reported things getting better at the company for them over those two years.
Both women and men don’t know what really constitutes sexual harassment at the workplace. So, we do separate and joint workshops with people of both genders once a year.
When a man is being overnice to a woman, she may like it, think that he is valuing her input and doesn’t know that it could lead to sexual harassment.
A lot of young people are coming to the workforce and finding partners there. It’s becoming extremely difficult for us as guardians of policies and processes there. If the relationship sours, some women say it was sexual harassment at the workplace. And I wonder where the sexual harassment was until things went bad.
Also, promiscuity has seeped in our culture. It’s posing more and more issues.
Pooja Kute, women's rights advocate:
CNBC reported that Infosys deals with 60 cases per year of sexual harassment at the workplace. Their definition of sexual harassment at the workplace is quite expanded.
They have a 4-tier system of punishment, based on the severity of the offence and the seniority of the accused. Level 1 offenses - the minor ones, such as inappropriate jokes or comments - only warrant a warning. Level 4 offenses result in termination of employment.
Shomita Biswas, Member Secretary, Maharashtra State Commission for Women:
We have carried out many awareness activities and workshops and received a very good response. Earlier, we didn’t know how to evaluate the street plays that we had organised but then we got co-ordinators from Tata Institute of Social Sciences to give us feedback.
Varsha Gaikwad, Minister for Child and Women Welfare, Government of Maharashtra:
I had asked for information on the number of private companies that have worked on the issue of sexual harassment at the workplace from the Minister of Labour. The file didn’t move because they were busy with elections.
We have many Acts but women should also want to use them. We need the help of NGOs for the implementation of any Act.
A notice board based on the Vishakha guidelines should be displayed at each workplace.
Registration of marriage is necessary. We must set precedence by doing it. Even if it’s compulsory, many people don’t register their marriage.
Prachi Pinglay, journalist:
Anything about sexual harassment at the workplace is not documented in the media industry. It’s very private.
In one case, five employees of a travel agency had gone out drinking and partying. The woman employee found herself molested the next morning. The boss asked the four men and the woman to sort it out amongst themselves.
One media employee was stalked by a man every day. Police complaints were also made, but even now she finds him somewhere or the other. What should she do?
The media industry is very grey, full of contrasts. There is use of foul language, mixed-up relationships, late nights, the spreading of rumours.
Women themselves laugh at some objectionable content or jokes. They don’t know when to put their foot down.
It may sound shocking to you but a cameraman once said “This woman looks so skinny. What must she be giving to her husband?!”
I think that many sexual harassment at the workplace cases happen more out of male arrogance. There is a basic lack of respect for women.
Unless it is an assault, an offence is very hard to bring to the notice of anybody. We should not judge the moral character of a woman who reports harassment. We should oppose insinuations.
We should think of timelines for the resolution of a case. Some basic action should be taken swiftly so that the woman feels confident that it’s being taken seriously.
At Hindustan Times, we have had a couple of sexual harassment incidents in the last 4-5 years. In one, a tribunal was set up and the man was fired on the same day. In this case which involved watching porn, there was no complaint by anyone but he was asked to go.
In the other case, the man was suspended for two months. At HT, we have a zero tolerance approach. Also, now that there are many women employees in our office, I think a man would think twice before saying something completely outrageous.
D P Pagar, Additional Labour Commissioner:
The Labour Commission has issued 1600 notices to establishments asking them to form a Complaints Committee. Since 2010, three complaints have been reported to us.
Sharada Sathe, women's rights activist:
The issues of the women in the unorganised sector are so complex. We will need a lot of awareness work on this issue. Home-based workers, self-employed women, agricultural workers and women working in small-scale industries should also be covered by the new Bill.
Shubha Shamim, social activist:
The most amount of exploitation happens in the unorganised sector. There are 17-18 Acts related to the organised sector. Sometimes I wonder how the government can be so completely blind to our issues.
All unorganised sector workers must get protection under the new Bill, especially domestic workers.
We should do research on the professions within this sector in which vulnerability is high. For example, the construction sector. I know of a woman who left construction work when she was sexually harassed. She later became a domestic help but was sexually harassed there as well.
Madhu Birmole from the Domestic Workers' Union:
14 cases of stealing were filed against maids in the last 1.5 months. Only one case was true.
In the case of 22-year-old Vandana, the flat owner himself asked the police to close the case as the ring was found, but they said they need to do their investigations and go to the court three months later with a report.
Amita Pitre from Oxfam:
Instead of taking compensation just from the guilty man, take it from the company as well so that it disincentivises them from supporting the accused like they tend to do in some cases.
Shreyasi Mulye, Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical:
The service rules or orientation or induction training in all organisations should make a mention of sexual harassment at the workplace too. There should be punishment also for those who aid or abet the harassment.
For how long should the accused be considered guilty? We should think about this.
Lakshmi Deosthalee, Mumbai Port Trust:
I went through sexual harassment at the workplace myself. The chairperson was a woman. It still took six years for resolution. I had taken it up twice with the National Commission for Women. They sent letters too but the matter was circumvented. We had deposed about our trauma at four different forums. But the six of us colleagues stayed together.
When such cases come up, the accused man tries to initiate a signature campaign that has his peers attesting to him being a “nice man”.
Asha Bajpai, professor:
I was a member in one Complaints Committee. The chairperson of the committee was junior to the accused man. When the accused man entered, all the committee members and the chairperson stood up to greet him.
Such cases where the accused is at the seniormost level should go directly to the State Commission or National Commission.
Nandita Gandhi, women's rights activist:
Employers will take this issue seriously only if there is a possibility of them incurring a financial loss. Otherwise, they are not bothered.
One of the ways forward is to campaign as women’s organisations to reintroduce the Bill in the winter session of the Parliament.
We must look within ourselves about what we can all do in the short term, mid-term and in the long term both for prevention efforts and for implementation.
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A similar consultation on the issue of sexual harassment at the workplace was held in a few cities last year. You can read a report about it
here
