Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes sexual harassment. After the guidelines specified by the Supreme Court in 1997, organisations are putting together the redressal committee that is made mandatory by these guidelines. The recent hyped settlement made by Infosys in the US has further accelerated the setting up of such an in-house complaints mechanism. Corporate communications include intranet dissemination of what constitutes sexual harrassment (SH), what the victim should do, what the accused must not do and what the redressal group need to ensure. Some organisations have nominated co-ordinators in their units and employees have been given their contact numbers and e-mail IDs. Posters on the SC guidelines have been displayed in the local languages in shop floors of public sector organisations. In short, employers are forced to put together their act to deal with the menace that has been pervading the industry for many years. As a career woman for over three decades and having worked in diverse fields like academics, advertising, journalism and public relations, I have had to deal with many situations that have posed a threat to my comfort as a woman. Women of my generation have had to ward off predators in various garbs — as helpful colleagues, friendly counterparts, admiring acquaintances and blatant harassers. It was entirely up to us to handle these delicate and sometimes not so delicate workplace wolves. The management’s attitude towards any complaint of this nature, would be ‘it’s your personal problem, deal with it yourself’. The employers’ liability act to provide a safe working place was limited to aspects like environment, health and hygiene. The safety of a woman employee was her own responsibilty. I had to find my own way to protect myself and I did so successfully. That is because I had the skill of assertive communication and could tell off those who tried to ‘mess around’ with me to take a walk! Not all women could do this so sexual harassment was an ‘occupational hazard’ which they learnt to accept and suffer in silence. The scope of employers’ liability to provide a safe environment has now been extended thanks to the SC guidelines. Harassment of a sexual nature has to be dealt with severly and awarded the same kind of punishment that any disciplinary lapse warrants. It is no more the ‘personal’ problem of a female employee when her male counterpart makes any sexual advances that are unwelcome to her. Unwelcome action of sexual nature or connotation, is illegal. The employer has to take cognisance of a complaint and if proved, take necessary steps to punish the accused. To ensure fair investigation, the guidelines provide for a committee constituting a combination of men and women with the latter forming more than 50 per cent and a woman chairing the committee. The inclusion of an NGO representative adds credibility for objective investigation. Despite the setting up of in-house redressal groups and publicising the same, it is advisable to have training sessions for employees on the implications of the guidelines. This could help clear the air as there are still many gray areas that need to be clarified in interactive sessions. This could create positive interpersonal relations at workplaces. Progressive organisations are doing this while most others believe that since they have no complaints, they have nothing to worry about! Thanks to the SC guidelines, women can hope to have a safer work environment.
