Susan Fowler’s Fight Against Uber: Could We Imagine Such A Case In India?
Former Uber engineer Susan Fowler took the world by storm through her post - One very, very strange year at Uber. The rampant sexism and the oppressive management style that she witnessed at Uber, one of the world’s biggest online transportation companies, deeply hurt public sentiment. This led to many users deleting the company’s app. She said she felt grateful and overwhelmed with the support.
Not an isolated case
There are many women like Susan who face sexual harassment or molestation at their workplace. However, very few speak out or are heard. As per this Cosmopolitan survey, one in three women has experienced harassment at work. Further, only 29% of the victims reported the issue.
The curious Pachauri and Tejpal cases
Research says that 36% of Indian companies and 25% MNCs aren’t compliant with the Sexual Harassment Act, 2013. There has been a constant rise in sexual harassment complaints at workplaces in the country since 2014. However, It has always been difficult for women to report such incidents and get justice.
Consider the R.K.Pachauri case where despite enough evidence against the former TERI vice-chairman, justice hasn’t been done yet. After a female TERI employee lodged a complaint in February 2015, two more TERI employees turned up with similar allegations. Ironically, TERI authorities tried their best to back Pachauri. This ultimately led to the complainant quitting her job in frustration.
Similarly, in the Tarun Tejpal case, his defenders tried to blame the victim, saying that she wilfully accompanied him to the lift a second time when the incident in question took place. These two cases, though, at least came into the spotlight. The tragedy is that there are many cases like this which simply go unreported.
It’s the woman’s fault!
Our patriarchal society has never tried to understand the mental trauma that a woman goes through when she is molested or harassed. She chooses to keep quiet out of fear and embarrassment. But she is questioned as to why she didn’t quit her job! Did she have some selfish interests? Was she trying to trap the innocent man for power? She is forced to believe that it is her fault. No one tries to understand that it took extreme courage for her to speak up.
In both the Pachauri and Tejpal cases, there was supporting evidences in the form of emails/texts. Sadly, in the majority of the cases, the incident occurs verbally or when the woman is alone, making it even harder to prove.
I believe we must bring about a change in our mindset if we are to have a Susan Fowler in our country who is unafraid to speak out. Only then can women feel completely safe at their workplaces.
Written by Sonalika Arora
