Harassment Of Women In India During Work From Home
Author: – Ms. Geetanjli Aggarwal
Email: – geetanjali@simplybiz.in
A recent newspaper headline caught my attention whereby it was reported that how online violence against women has increased in India during the COVID period. Strange right? Generally, we think since the offices are closed there will be no cases of sexual harassment or there will be a drastic reduction in such cases.
But on the flip side, during the Pandemic, with the introduction of online interactions, women suffered harassment in the worst way. As we have one new term to add up to the list of “what is sexual harassment” i.e. zoom-bombing or zoom-raiding.
It refers to the unwanted, disruptive intrusion, in form of posting some racist, sexist, double meaning or disturbing content online in the middle of video conferencing to shock and disturb the participants.
Several other forms of online harassment/abuse faced by women include cyber-bullying, cyberstalking, defamation, image-based abuse, doxing, gender trolling and hacking to name a few.
But on the flip side, during the Pandemic, with the introduction of online interactions, women suffered harassment in the worst way. As we have one new term to add up to the list of “what is sexual harassment” i.e. zoom-bombing or zoom-raiding.
It refers to the unwanted, disruptive intrusion, in form of posting some racist, sexist, double meaning or disturbing content online in the middle of video conferencing to shock and disturb the participants.
Several other forms of online harassment/abuse faced by women include cyber-bullying, cyberstalking, defamation, image-based abuse, doxing, gender trolling and hacking to name a few.
- Resolution Mechanism :-
The Vishakha guidelines acted as a base to formulate the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. The POSH rules make it mandatory to bring in measures that prevent and redress such harassment at the workplace. In a workplace where the number of employees crosses over 10, an Internal Committee (IC) shall be formed to deal with sexual harassment complaints. The IC is responsible to conduct enquiry and find out the guilt or innocence of the accused. The workplace has an inclusive definition which also includes online platforms such as zoom and other online meeting platforms.
As the pandemic has moved the office to Work From Home (WFH), the role of POSH has also adapted to protect the victims from distant workplace harassment through digital mediums. There needs to be awareness training for the employees to raise complaints and report them through the POSH Act.
But in India due to inherited customs and societal pressure generally, women do not report such cases for fear of defamation, career loss etc. In addition to that only big companies have adopted the POSH. The mid and small companies are usually slower or reluctant in embracing the same. And what about the females who are working in unorganised sectors? For example a domestic helper. If they are facing such harassment then where to complain and whom to reach?
Here, Govt of India came up with the concept of the Sexual Harassment electronic Box (SHe-Box) to provide single window access to every woman, irrespective of her work status, whether working in the organised or unorganised, private or public sector, to facilitate the registration of complaint related to sexual harassment. Any woman facing sexual harassment at the workplace can register their complaint through this portal. Once a complaint is submitted to the ‘SHe-Box’, it will be directly sent to the concerned authority having jurisdiction to take action into the matter.
With the shift towards digitisation in the corporate world due to the pandemic, Companies need to work towards creating and strengthening the Do and Don’ts for working from home and also need to make stringent policies for using digital means during working hours in the Company. POSH Training sessions online or offline for IC members and employees like HR, managers, Business heads, Reporting managers etc may help them to effectively handle and manage sexual harassment incidents. Such training sessions are not just skill development but also a necessity and a legal mandate to help the corporate world to move towards gender equality in the true sense.
As the pandemic has moved the office to Work From Home (WFH), the role of POSH has also adapted to protect the victims from distant workplace harassment through digital mediums. There needs to be awareness training for the employees to raise complaints and report them through the POSH Act.
But in India due to inherited customs and societal pressure generally, women do not report such cases for fear of defamation, career loss etc. In addition to that only big companies have adopted the POSH. The mid and small companies are usually slower or reluctant in embracing the same. And what about the females who are working in unorganised sectors? For example a domestic helper. If they are facing such harassment then where to complain and whom to reach?
Here, Govt of India came up with the concept of the Sexual Harassment electronic Box (SHe-Box) to provide single window access to every woman, irrespective of her work status, whether working in the organised or unorganised, private or public sector, to facilitate the registration of complaint related to sexual harassment. Any woman facing sexual harassment at the workplace can register their complaint through this portal. Once a complaint is submitted to the ‘SHe-Box’, it will be directly sent to the concerned authority having jurisdiction to take action into the matter.
With the shift towards digitisation in the corporate world due to the pandemic, Companies need to work towards creating and strengthening the Do and Don’ts for working from home and also need to make stringent policies for using digital means during working hours in the Company. POSH Training sessions online or offline for IC members and employees like HR, managers, Business heads, Reporting managers etc may help them to effectively handle and manage sexual harassment incidents. Such training sessions are not just skill development but also a necessity and a legal mandate to help the corporate world to move towards gender equality in the true sense.
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