Is Your Workplace Safe For You?

The recent charge-sheet against Dr. R.K. Pachauri, the former Director-General of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) after a long logjam brings to fore the hushed up issue of women safety at the workplace. The way TERI handled the whole scene by attempting desperately to retain the super-boss compelling the victim to leave is highly deplorable since the institutional integrity lost its conviction to an individual interest.

The fact of the matter is that TERI is not alone in setting such an unruly example. Sexual harassment is a universal evil cutting across sectors. iGate appointed  Phaneesh Murthy as its CEO knowing that Infosys had to cuff up millions to rescue its Director from two sexual harassment lawsuits filed against him by the victims. Even the people exposing the crimes against women comfortably indulge in notorious acts with fellow workers, and surprisingly, the whole organisation stands up for the culprit.

An example is Tarun Tejpal, the estranged editor of Tehelka magazine, who did not find anything wrong in outraging a fellow woman’s modesty at an offshore meeting. His office tried to put the matter under the wraps till he was found guilty. Furthermore, the revelation by an intern lawyer that she was molested by a Supreme Court judge led many judges to deny mentoring female interns.  All these cases echo one question, are women safe at work? Furthermore, what are the government and the corporations doing to ensure their safety?

The Supreme Court of India recognised the issue of workplace harassment only in 1997 when a string of NGOs knocked its door to support Bhanwari Devi, an outreach worker who was gang-raped for stopping a child marriage in her village. The result was the Vishakha Guidelines. Surprisingly, the Government of India needed another decade to safeguard its women at work as it passed the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. The law mandates each company to form an Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) to address the grievances at each of its office having at least 10 employees, and, report the complaints received each year.

However, despite the law, many companies reluctantly beat the bush. The data collated by the National Commission for Women (NCW) claimed that a third of the Indian corporations were non-compliant till the end of 2014. Another survey by Ernst and Young in 2015 disclosed that sixty three per cent companies comprising majorly the automobile and IT sector mocked the law by forming a dysfunctional ICC. The onus thus lies on you as well, for your safety. Here are a few checks that could help you to determine how safe and compliant your work place is.

• Look if the penal consequences of indulging in sexual harassment are displayed at your workplace, as mandated by the law.
• Enquire if ICC is in place, and, who the members are. Find out if there is equal number of women in the committee and if it is headed by a woman, with a representative from an NGO.
• Investigate if the ICC has received the requisite training required for discharging its duties.
• Query whom you should contact in case you have to file a complaint, and, the procedure. Keep the emergency numbers handy.
• Probe if there has been a similar case in your office and how the management responded.

Let us be proactive. Let us be safe.

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