Following the #MeToo wave, scores of women over the past several days have spoken out against their harassers and abusers. Women from media, entertainment and corporate industry have recounted their ¡®harassment¡¯ experiences and thus came out skeletons of horrific accounts of abuse perpetrated by men holding powerful positions.
Women have faced it in one form or the other -- from ogles to unwanted touches to flashing, molesting, assaulting and worse, rapes. The #MeToo movement isn¡¯t a smear campaign against male gender but a result of years of bottled-up anguish, anger, vulnerability and frustration.
Even as India is finally having its #MeToo movement, what¡¯s out there is just the tip of the iceberg.?
According to the poll conducted by social networking site Local Circles, about 32 per cent of respondents said they or one of their family member faced harassment at workplace. Forty-five per cent of the respondents said they have not faced sexual harassment at workplace.
Read more: To Everyone Who Asks, ¡®Why Don¡¯t Women Speak Up Sooner About Sexual Harassment?¡¯
As many as 50 per cent respondents said that they faced sexual harassment at the workplace during regular office hours.?
Only 22 per cent of those who faced sexual harassment at work decided to report the matter to the HR department. Seventy-eight per cent decided to not report the matter. About 80 per cent of respondents in an online survey said that cases of sexual harassment go unreported.?
More than 28,000 votes were polled in the survey from over 15,000 unique participants located across India.
Nearly 6,100 or 40 per cent of respondents were females. Forty per cent of participants were from tier 1 cities, 28 per cent from tier 2 cities and 32 per cent from tier 3 cities.
The survey also points out another problem that people are unaware of what inappropriate behaviour is. The 2013 Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act instructs any organisation with more than ten employees should have an independent committee to investigate allegations.
There are several laws under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that tends to make workplaces safer for women.??
Sadly, many organisations do not adhere to the guidelines and are merely doing a lip service to it. Often, members of the ICC have little understanding of gender and lack proper training.?
In many cases, women do not file complaints because the ICC or culture of the workspace does not instigate confidence in them. There is little assurance that their complaint will be treated with seriousness.
Thankfully, at least a few men have begun to ask females friends and colleagues if they have ever offended them.?
As more and more stories come to the forefront, the culprit, undoubtedly, is casual sexism aided by misogyny and patriarchy. Women have been silently enduring the pain and shame for generations and complicating their own lives by remaining silent.?
Above all, it is now imperative to ensure a safe and inclusive work environment for women.