Introduction :- 

The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) has been making continuous efforts to mainstream the implementation of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013. All ministries and departments under central government have to constitute Internal Complaints Committee. Complaints can be filed under the Act directly with the ministry through the SHE-Box. In context of this the MWCD had requested the Ministry of Corporate Affairs for making disclosure of compliance mandatory in annual reports of private companies.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has amended the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014 and has made the disclosure of compliance (under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act) mandatory in the Annual Reports of Private companies.

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013:

• It seeks to protect women from sexual harassment at their place of work. The Act defines sexual harassment at the workplace and creates a mechanism for redressal of complaints.
• The definition of “aggrieved woman,” who will get protection under the Act, is extremely wide to cover all women, irrespective of their age or employment status and whether in the organized or unorganized sectors, public or private, and covers clients, customers and domestic workers as well.
• The Act covers concepts of quid pro quo harassment and hostile work environment as forms of sexual harassment if they occur in connection with an act or behaviour of sexual harassment.
• An internal complaints committee (ICC) is mandatory in every private or public organisation that has 10 or more employees.
• The Internal Complaints Committee has been given powers of a civil court for summoning, discovery and production of documents etc.
• Each Internal Committee requires membership from an NGO or association committed to the cause of women.
• A ‘Local Complaints Committee’ is required to be constituted in every district. An additional ‘Local Complaints Committee’ shall also be constituted at the block level to address complaints in situations where the complainant does not have recourse to an Internal Complaints Committee or where the complaint is against the employer himself  It also provides safeguards against false or malicious charges.

Criticism of the Act :

• The internal committee formed under this act has the power to decide a monetary fine which must be paid by the perpetrator, depending on their income and financial stability. This is a kind of discriminatory method, it supports and envisages inequality among different sections of the society, for example, a person earning low income would be paying a lower fine compared to a senior who earns more
•  The Act does not cover the agricultural workers and armed forces.
• The Act does not satisfactorily address accountability. It does not specify who is in charge of ensuring that workplaces comply with the Act.
•  It is not a gender-neutral legislation and protects only women from sexual harassment at workplace.

Harassment of women at workplace :

• Reason for harassment: The basic reason for women harassment at workplace lies in patriarchal structure of the society leading to a sense of male superiority. Apart from jealousy at work, there is general feeling of contempt and disrespect against women which is visible through sexually perverted behaviours.
• Between 2014 and 2015 cases of sexual harassment within office premises more than doubled and there has also been a 51% rise in sexual harassment cases at other places related to work in 2015.
• In 2017, the National Commission for Women received an average of 1.7 complaints of sexual harassment at workplace per day.
• 60% of complaints received in 2017 were from five states: Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana.
• In 2015 a study by FICCI titled Fostering Safe Workplaces showed that 36% of Indian companies and 25% of multinational companies had not yet constituted their ICCs. About 50% of the more than 120 companies that participated in the study admitted that their ICC members were not legally trained.
• The Act imposes a penalty of upto Rs 50,000 on employers who do not implement the Act in the workplace or even fail to constitute an ICC. But, the number of employers who do not fully comply with the law indicates that there is little monitoring of their redressal machinery.
• According to a survey conducted by the Indian Bar Association in 2017, 70% women did not report sexual harassment by superiors.

Reasons for failure to report safety concerns:

•  Lack of understanding: Most women perceive that the behavior is not serious enough for them to take the next step and complain as there is a lack of understanding of what harassment is, the laws covering women safety and what they entail.
• Lack of faith: Women lack faith in the complaints process as registering a complaint can be embarrassing and the complaint process seem difficult and useless.
• Fear of retaliation: The fear of retaliation by the harasser or organization also makes them silent about it
• Self-judgement: Some women consider that they can take care of the situation themselves rather than going through the entire complaints redressal procedure.
• Social stigma: There is a stigma attached to sexual harassment in Indian society. Most of the time women are looked down upon if they report such a case, irrespective of who is at fault in that situation. Several incidences of shaming at social media of women who report sexual abuse have been observed.

Measures which an organisation can take to enhance the safety of women at workplace :

• Getting women to speak up: The organisation should make the environment conducive enough for women to register complaints against any such act. The registration complaints in severe cases directed to the government should be fast-tracked.
• Deploying technology: Technology such as GPS, CCTV cameras, mobile apps etc should be leveraged to create secure workplace and transportation to the women employees.
• Gender sensitisation training: Corporates should conduct gender-sensitization trainings and awareness programs for both men and women across their operations.
• Mandating appropriate work practices: Organisations often give more importance towards productivity than safety which gives a wrong signal to employees. The top management level should try to make safety a priority.