Sexual Harassment: Why Feminism Discourages Equality in the Workplace

"If bossman hadn't been around, I'd probably have pinched you," he said.

"It would have made me conscious," she responded.

"You wear something sensuous and then when people notice, you become conscious. No logic there. It's (clothes) fetching and you need to take compliments better."

This an excerpt of a conversation that Sadiya had with her news editor, which lived on to become part of her official Gmail chat record.

Sadiya Upadye, a former journalist with one of India's leading newspapers, was a victim of sexual harassment at work - a fact that she came to accept much later than the actual incident itself. "While the dynamic that I shared with my editor made me feel uncomfortable, I did not really question it and often passed it off as friendly jest," she recalled.

Sadiya and her colleagues worked in a close knit environment, where everyone was encouraged to be vocal and comfort within the team was key. This comfort however rarely extended to Sadiya's obvious feelings of awkwardness every time her news editor, who was also her boss, made a remark on her clothes or the "number of admirers she had". She laughed it all off for over two years and eventually quit her job.

Like Sadiya, many women have to face a volley of verbal harassment, including questions about marriage, children, boyfriends, unwanted messages and calls etc. Unchecked, many a time they escalate to physical assaults too. These usually start with an unwanted hand on your shoulder, leaning in too close and at times potentially escalate to rape.

Sexual harassment in the workplace is a common problem that many Indian women face. Data shared by 50 Nifty companies on sexual harassment cases in their annual reports revealed that there has been a 26% rise in a year. The data also showed that between two-thirds of these companies there were 525 complaints in the year. This however is just one side of the coin.

A recent survey conducted by the Indian National Bar Association (INBA) among 6,047 participants,

found that out of the 38% who said they faced sexual harassment at the workplace, a shocking 69% said they did not complain about.

Like Sadiya's dignity, their stories too died a silent death.

The law: Origins and features

Sexual harassment at work is not so much about sex as much as it is about power and dominance exacerbated by men within the work space. It is about the coercive pressure that women employees feel at work, especially when they are in a subordinate position, when subtle connections are drawn between work and sexual favours.

Women at the receiving end of sexual harassment rarely find it easy to identify a violation of their dignity, especially in a professional setting, where they expect to be recognised for their work and not the way they look. This, in addition to the rising incidence of sexual harassment at work has made it extremely important to re-visit the law that is supposed to protect women from such incidents.

India's history with tackling sexual harassment at work began with the case of Bhanwari Devi, a grassroots government worker who was allegedly gang-raped in 1992 by her high-caste neighbours in the rural areas of Rajasthan. Bhanwari Devi was raped because she attempted to prevent the marriage of a nine-month-old girl a custom that is banned, but still prevalent in the rural parts of India. As part of her job with the state government's Women's Development Programme (WDP), it was Bhanwari Devi's duty to campaign and educate people in her area against social ills.

Bhanwari Devi's battle with the law, along with the support of a number of NGOs brought into existence the 'Vishaka Guidelines' in 1997, and subsequently, 'The Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act in April 2013'.

The Vishaka Guidelines define sexual harassment as an unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature, demand or request for sexual favours and sexually offensive visuals. The Sexual Harassment Of Women At Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition And Redressal) Act 2013, goes a step further to define the workplace as "any office, whether government or private." The law also states that every organisation is required to set up an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) to

specifically deal with complaints of sexual harassment. The Act gives the complainant an option to deal with the case within the office or file a criminal complaint against the offender.

As far as the ICC is concerned, the law requires the members to be predominately female - two employed at different levels within the organisation, one of which will be the presiding officer, on third party member with expertise in gender issues and a single male member.

Any complaint taken to the ICC is required to be investigated within a period of 90 days from the day of complaint. The ICC also needs to be very careful about keeping the people involved in the investigation anonymous.

Why is sexual harassment under-reported?

India is one of the few countries in the world that has a law dedicated to counter sexual harassment at work. In theory, the legislation is not only smart, but also very effective. However, data clearly shows that despite the advantage of having law on your side, women still shy away from reporting incidents of sexual harassment against them.

The survey conducted by INBA listed a number of reasons that prevented women from taking action in the form of complaints. Around 65% women claimed that their workplaces did not have a set up in accordance of the ICC guidelines, as laid under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013. For companies that do follow the law, around 47% of those surveyed said that the committee was not efficient enough, mainly due to the lack of awareness as far as sections of the legislation are concerned.

Sexual harassment survivors also talk about their lack of faith in the system and their fear of retaliation as the most common reason for maintaining their silence. "He was my boss and it would be his word over mine. I did not want to be seen as a troublemaker," said Sadiya, when asked if she ever thought about lodging a formal complaint. "Moreover, the media is a small and well connected industry. Word would have gotten out. I have seen it happen before and it is not the most ideal situation to be in," she added.

Victim blaming is another reason why women fail to completely understand the seriousness of the situation. When it comes to sexual harassment, most women believe that the act goes both ways and often brush it off as a 'misunderstanding' that she might have caused. Even with crimes that involve physical assault, women often blame themselves for 'leading the attacker on', 'not dressing

modestly' or 'not watching out for their own safety'.

"I never once directly told my editor that the way he spoke to me about my clothes or my looks made me uncomfortable. Maybe I should have and he would have just stopped after that," said Sadiya, when asked if she would have wanted to deal with the situation differently.

While the concerns of Sadiya and hundreds of women around her are real, the problem does not end there.

Do women even recognise sexual harassment at work?

India is a patriarchal society and misogyny is rampant in almost every corner of the country. Gendered social hierarchies, dominance and power arrangements have conditioned Indian men and women to function in a certain way. This conditioning, which could be slated as the root of violence against women in Indian society, also plays a big role in holding back victims of sexual harassment from fighting for justice.

Misogyny has led many Indian women to normalise a number of crimes committed against them. Sexual crimes like eve-teasing, stalking and verbal assault, among many, have become a part of the day to day life of almost every Indian woman. It is often this phenomenon of normalisation that stops women from taking these crimes seriously, resulting in no action on their part.

A lot of women draw the same parallel when it comes to sexual harassment at work.

"How harmful can a couple of text messages be? It's just a normal situation of being flirted with," said Indira, as she spoke of her male colleague and his 'pursuance' of her.

Indira Bairwa is an employee with an NGO that fights for forest preservation in India. Her job requires her to often travel to the rural areas of the country and sometimes even live there for a couple of days. Due to the general lack of safety that women experience in India, Indira usually has a male colleague accompany her on these trips. Little did she know that someone designated to watch out for her safety would end up being the person who eventually violated her dignity.

"It started out normally. He used to keep me company everywhere I went and watch out for me during our day to day interactions. It was the small things, like making sure I ate on time that used to catch me off guard. But it was still normal. This however slowly escalated to him deciding who I could speak to when I was on my own and who were the people I could talk to only in his company.

This will keep you safe - he used to say. In the end he considered that this was part of his job," she said.

Indira did not doubt the intentions of her colleague. In her eyes, all he was doing was taking care of her and making sure she was ok. She expected that sort of behaviour from a man and never thought much about questioning it.

But things did change. 'Watching out for her' escalated to restrictions. This hampered Indira's work and she eventually requested her boss to send her out with a different colleague.

Indira however still did not feel like she was being sexually harassed. Not even after she was then pursued over text messages that spoke bountifully about how she was being missed.

"Sexual harassment is not the first thing that comes to mind. Yes, it was uncomfortable and to a certain extent annoying, but who would ever think about going up to your boss about a few messages that had nothing to do with work," she said.

A number of women like Indira are completely unaware of the kind of protection that the sexual harassment at work legalisation offers them. They fail to realise that an unwelcome text message of a sexual nature from a colleague is inappropriate enough to be taken up with the ICC.

Another concern that discourages most women from complaining against sexual harassment, especially when it does not involve physical assault, is the fear of being perceived as vulnerable. This fear, unfortunately, is largely associated with the idea of feminism and the notion that most Indian women seem to have developed of the concept.

"We all fight for gender equality today, especially in our professional lives. My job as a journalist introduces me to a number of people, many of whom are powerful and believe they can get away with anything. In such a situation, it is important for me to be tough in order to be efficient. If I cannot deal with a few stray comments and crude messages on my own, how I am supposed to build a career in this field," exclaimed a very defensive Sadiya when asked if being a feminist affected her perception of sexual harassment at work.

Ramanuj Mukherjee, founder of the End Sexual Harassment campaign and iPleaders, an online legal education startup said, "Sexual harassment is rarely treated as a serious crime. Most people, including victims treat it as a small act of misbehaviour. In my experience there are plenty who identify an act of sexual harassment against them, but do not see a point in reporting these cases. Today, women empowerment calls for strength. My clients believe that there is no strength in making a big deal about something that can be easily ignored instead."

Can the issue be solved?

Sexual harassment by itself is a huge blot on Indian society. However, when sexual harassment becomes a common occurrence in a professional setting, it truly shows a backward mentally that the country seems to suffer from.

To suggest a concrete solution to such behaviour would be foolish. The root of the issue, as mentioned earlier, is social and will require years of conditioning to weed out. However, societal conditioning does require a boost to set it into motion. This boost can best be achieved within the

education system, where gender equality and gender emancipation could be normalised at a very young age. A norm inculcated as a child is a norm that is most likely followed through life. However, it is important to realise that as fool-proof as this sounds, it is a not an easily achievable solution and requires perseverance and persistence that might have to last for decades.

Sexual Harassment: Why Feminism Discourages Equality in the Workplace

False perception of feminism and women empowerment has lead to under-reported incidents of sexual harassment at work "If bossman hadn't been around, I'd probably have pinched you," he said.

"It would have made me conscious," she responded.

"You wear something sensuous and then when people notice, you become conscious. No logic there. It's (clothes) fetching and you need to take compliments better."

This an excerpt of a conversation that Sadiya had with her news editor, which lived on to become part of her official Gmail chat record.

Sadiya and her colleagues worked in a close knit environment, where everyone was encouraged to

be vocal and comfort within the team was key. This comfort however rarely extended to Sadiya's obvious feelings of awkwardness every time her news editor, who was also her boss, made a remark on her clothes or the "number of admirers she had". She laughed it all off for over two years and eventually quit her job.

The data also showed that between two-thirds of these companies there were 525 complaints in the year. This however is just one side of the coin.