Sexual Harassment at Work Place
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear about your workplace? a place where you earn your livelihood, a place to enhance your passion, and whatnot.
Now imagine being harassed and sexually exploited at that very workplace, which is your only source of income. Sounds awful, right?
There is almost a great percentage of offices in India in which the employees are sexually harassed, mostly by their seniors or bosses. These people take advantage of their juniors’ vulnerability and passion for work just to fulfil their own desires. Sexual harassment is a very common problem faced by most women in this world, and it is very sad to say that they aren’t even safe in their own workplace.
Unwelcoming behaviour by colleagues or seniors that is not perceived as an act of kindness and can lead to the feeling of being out of control and victimised is referred to as being sexually exploited.Every country is facing this problem today. No female worker is safe, and they clearly lack a sense of security.Many countries have made changes to their laws to protect female workers from sexual harassment.
Unwanted sexually determined behaviours include:
- Physical Contact and Advances
- A demand or request for sexual favors
- sexually coloured remarks.
- Showing pornography.
- any other unwelcome physical, verbal, or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature.
Cutting across religion, culture, race, caste, class, and geographical boundaries, sexual harassment has spread like a virus in society. It has emerged as a rudimentary crisis around the world, being derogatory to human dignity, human rights, and gender equality.It is a complex issue involving women, their discernment and behavior, and the social norms of society, which emerge from gender prejudicial attitudes and are a complex interplay of gender, power, and sexuality.
In India, every 12 minutes, a woman is harassed. And the role of women in society is changing rapidly due to industrialization, globalization, and the development of various professional fields. And as a woman in India, she is showing a lot of expertise in every field now and is competing with the patriarchal society. Thus, they have been targeted too much. Sexual harassment in the workplace often starts very innocently but ends up taking an inappropriate turn.
It is very possible for a woman to experience a single incident of sexual harassment or a series of incidents over a period of time, which can be very traumatising to deal with. and in order to prevent sexual harassment at the workplace. Differentiating between appropriate and inappropriate or unwelcoming behaviour is necessary. If you identify the type of behaviour that makes you uncomfortable, you will be able to stop it.
The Sexual Harassment Act of 2013 addresses the issue of workplace sexual harassment faced by women. It is an act to provide protection against sexual harassment of women at their workplace and for the prevention and rectification of complaints of sexual harassment, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
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