Men and boys, we show our manhood through the way we treat our women. Our colleagues, our wives, our sisters, our mothers. — Archbishop Desmond Tutu

In the past decade, women have progressively earned a higher standard in the workplace. Women are now gaining higher positions and form a big/huge section of any working sector around the globe.Women now are more independent in every sense. They are competent enough to take care of themselves and their families. They are more able to make their own life choices and live on their own terms.

However, it’s become usual for us to wake to the news of women being mistreated every day in some part of our country. Women are being abducted from colleges, outside of schools and workplaces, raped and mostly killed mercilessly. As a woman entrepreneur in today’s era and also running an entire women employed team it is of grave importance to me to talk about an important issue today. Doing our bit by making workplaces safe for women.

Sexual harassment can lead to anxiety, depression, lower self-esteem, alienation and overall degradation of their physical and mental health.

It’s a disturbing fact that women in work still face sexual harassment, which is why many of them even quit their jobs.

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Sexual harassment is the unwanted or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors.

It is the unwelcome sexual behavior, which makes a person feel offended, humiliated, degraded or intimidated. It is non-consensual and unacceptable. A few kinds of unacceptable behaviour is listed below-

·      Derogatory remarks on females workers.

·      Gender discrimination.

·      Unpleasant complements, body shaming, stroking or grabbing without consent.

·      Sharing pornographic materials through notes or emails.

·      Spreading rumors about personal life.

·      Rape or attempted rape and so on.

5 Ways to Ensure Women’s Safety 

1. Sexual Harassment Policy:

Any big/small Organisations must have a Sexual Harassment policy which defines:

·      Sexual harassment and its forms

·      Explain the zero-tolerance approach

·      Educate on inappropriate conduct

·      Outline consequences

2. Create Awareness Among the Employees:

It’s sad that many organization and people, in general, are still not aware of women’s safety in the workplace. It’s very clear from the statistics and cases on sexual harassment in the workplace.

To create awareness among the employees on women’s safety and their health is vital. You can use all possible techniques and ideas to spread awareness. Workshops, open group discussions or activities can help to create awareness on women’s safety in the workplace.

Wellness programmes are must when it comes to the physical and psychological health of your workers.

Awareness starts with the implementation of guidelines, and laws against sexual harassment in a workplace. Therefore without understanding the root cause you cannot stop any discrimination against women.

3. Encourage Women to Express:

Generally, women facing sexual harassment doesn’t speak up. We as a society are responsible for this. We teach our girl child to behave and act in a particular way. Since childhood, we give them a set of do’s and don’t. This conditioning later stops women to express. They are ashamed. They fear consequences. Other reasons are low self-esteem and lack of information.

You must encourage the female employees to express and come out of their discomfort. This can be done by boosting their confidence by implementing equal opportunities for both male and female workers in the workplace. The sense of equality in the workplace will make them fight the social stigma.

4. Role of an HR:

HR needs to explain to the employees about the safe work environment. And must play the role an intermediate to highlight any complaint or any women issues to higher authorities.

In the Employee Orientation Programme, the HR needs to give strict guidelines on sexual harassment to the new employees.

It is HR’s role to bring notice any unwelcome behavior faced by the employees to higher authorities. Since the authority needs to take unbiased actions. The participation of the HR is most important here.

In an interview, Richard Lobo, an Executive Vice President and Head of Human Resources at Infosys Ltd, said that whenever people join their organization, especially at the entry level, they undergo training sessions where they give them case studies of what is okay and what is not okay at the workplace.

They also explain the mechanisms to bring misconduct to the attention of someone who can do something about it. therefore, they make sure counseling and support are available.

5. Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) on Women’s Safety:

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (“POSH Act”) has made ICC compulsory for both the private and non-private for women’s safety on sexual harassment.

A woman who is harassed can make the complaint within 90 days of the incident. If the woman is not comfortable to express near ICC, in that case, her co-worker, friend or a relative can lodge the complaint as long as they have a written consent from her.

ICC then takes the responsibility to properly investigate the issue. The inquiry should take place within 90 days. And once completed, a report has to be issued within 10 days.

Any workplace that has 10 or more than 10 employees needs to form ICC to address sexual harassment in the workplace. ICC should have a team of at least 4 members. At least 50% of the members should be women. The chairperson of ICC has to be a woman. And half of the members of the committee must have some experience in social work/legal knowledge. There must also be a third party member, who is a social worker from NGO committed to the cause of women.

Organizations needs come up with tactics and ideas which suits them best to ensure women’s safety in a workplace. And they must have a sexual harassment policy. And it could vary with the demographic and types of harassment one face in the organizations.

Sexual harassment and degradation of women in the workplace is not a recent story. It is prevailing in the world for decades. As a part of the society, it’s our duty to make a healthy and safe environment for our women in the workplace.