Even as the #MeToo movement which exposed cases of sexual harassment in Bollywood and the media industry gained momentum, about 80 per cent of respondents in an online survey said such cases at workplace go unreported. According to the poll conducted by social networking site Local Cricles, 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 work place. Setting up #MeToo as an all-or-nothing issue will make us ignore the considerable gains already made Only 22 per cent of those who faced sexual harassment at workplace reported it to the HR department, while 78 per chose not to report the matter. According to the Vishakha guidelines, an Internal Complaints Committee is mandatory in every organisation and measures should be taken to ensure a safe atmosphere for women workers at work place. India’s #MeToo storm: The women are angry, and not afraid Sixty-nine per cent of the respondents who said they faced sexual harassment revealed it took place at their work premises; physical contact and advances being the most common form of sexual harassment. The survey comes in the wake of the #MeToo movement in India, that started with Bollywood actress Tanushree Dutta who accused Nana Patekar of harassing her on the sets of Horn Ok, Please in 2008. What is the #MeToo movement? In less than a fortnight since then, many women have come forward with complaints of sexual harassment at work place. Union minister MJ Akbar is one of those accused of sexual harassment by at least 10 women who had worked with him during his stint as an editor at the Asian Age and Telegraph. Akbar denied the charges and responded to the allegations with a defamation suit against journalist Priya Ramani, who was the first to name him. Senior journalists and Bollywood personalities like Sajid Khan, Vikas Bahl, and Alok Nath have also been accused of sexual harassment.
