Context: 

The recent case of allegations of sexual harassment that some of India’s sportswomen (wrestling) are said to have faced have brought the issue of safe workplace for women to the surface.

About ‘Sexual Harassment at the Workplace’:

• The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace(prevention, prohibition and redressal) Act, 2013 defines sexual harassment as one or more of the following unwelcome acts or behavior. Such as

• • physical contact and advances; or
  • a demand or request for sexual favours; or
  • making sexually coloured remarks; or
  • showing pornography; or
  • any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature;

• Defining Workplace: 
  • The workplace includes any government or private sector organisation, establishment, etc. 
  • It also covers unorganised and domestic workers, hospitals, any sports institute, stadium or complex, any place visited by the employee during her course of employment, etc.

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace(prevention, prohibition and redressal) Act, 2013. 

• The Supreme Court in a landmark judgement in the Vishakha and others v State of Rajasthan 1997 case gave ‘Vishakha guidelines’.
• These guidelines formed the basis for the The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (“Sexual Harassment Act”).
• The Act defines sexual harassment at the workplace. The Act creates a mechanism for redressal of complaints. 
• It also provides safeguards against false or malicious charges.
• Every workplace is required to constitute an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC). The ICC is mandatory at each office or branch with 10 or more employees.
• These Internal Complaints Committees have the powers of civil courts for gathering evidence.
• It prescribes penalties for employers. Non-compliance with the provisions of the Act shall be punishable with a fine.
• In case of repetition of violations, higher penalties and cancellation of licence or registration to conduct business is also present.

Structural Violence:

• Violence, in the form of sexual harassment at the workplace, is both direct and structural.
• While an enabling environment for reporting direct violence has shown a gradual improvement, indirect violence remains poorly addressed because it is embedded deep in our social and economic structures. 
• It is more visible in the employment imbalance prevalent between men and women, in the organised and unorganised sectors. 

• Reasons:

• • A sense of Entitlement: With more men at the workplace, they feel entitled and empowered to take undue advantage of patriarchal society.
  • Lack of Confidence: When the number of women in leadership positions is not enough to generate confidence in subordinates, women in lower positions feel reluctant to air their grievances.

 Periodic Labour Force Survey:

• The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) annual report available for 2020- ­21 shows that though the participation of women in the total labour force grew to 25.1% in 2020­-21 it is still much less when compared to men.

Reasons for Low proportion of female in workforce:

• Lack of enabling environment: The absence of an enabling and safe working environment is one of the factors for the poor participation of women in the labour force.
• Ineffective Redressal Mechanism: The current redress mechanism is either non-existent or ineffective. 
• Vulnerable to exploitation: They are more vulnerable to exploitation by their employer as they can be easily threatened with their job continuity for indecent favours.

Remedial measures needed

• Short Term measures may include:

• • providing the requisite women friendly infrastructure, 
  • the constitution of internal complaint committees, and 
  • the spreading of awareness about the law and procedure of grievance redress.

• Medium Term measures may include: 

• • the increase of female participation in the labour force, 
  • improvement of tooth to tail ratio, and 
  • providing incentives to prevent drop outs such as paid maternity leave. 

• Long Term measures may include: 

• • It is essential to address the deep rooted structural and cultural violence which puts women in a disadvantageous position. 
  • The mindset of treating men and women as equals is developed at an early stage of character formation during childhood. 
  • Ethical social conditioning and the environment of the family and early schooling will prevent learning the inequality as a normal phenomenon

• Recommendations of Justice JS Verma committee

• • It had recommended a tribunal, instead of an ICC. Because dealing with such complaints internally could discourage women from complaining.
  • Rather than functioning as Civil court, the tribunal may choose its own procedure to deal with each complaint.
  • The committee opposed penalising women for false complaints. The committee observed punishing women can nullify the very objective of the law.

Conclusion:

• Unless society as a whole works incessantly to bring about the required changes in the existing socio cultural and economic structures to eliminate indirect violence, root and branch, the status quo may not change.

                                                                                                                      News Source: The Hindu