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No
End To Harassment
A small news item in a South Indian newspaper, buried in the inside pages,
recently announced that Phaneesh Murthy, formerly a top executive at
Infosys (US), India's leading infotech company, was inducted into the
board of directors of a Chennai-based IT company. Murthy resigned and quit
Infosys abruptly last year after an American woman colleague filed a case
of prolonged sexual harassment against him. While the sexual harassment
case made front-page news, his appointment as a board member was almost
missed by the media.
Murthy's blemished record did not prevent the Chennai company from
inviting him to the board. Do corporate companies and multinationals
consider sexual harassment a crime? Apparently not! Do private agencies
examine a man's past record at the workplace before hiring him? Obviously
not! In both private and government organizations, sexual harassment
continues to be ignored.
Sachi, a victim of sexual harassment at the workplace, says, "When a man
embezzles money from a company, he is sacked and sometimes his photograph
is inserted in the newspapers warning people not to deal with him. Why is
it that sexual harassment charges are not given similar importance?"
In 1997, the Supreme Court laid down very clear guidelines with regard to
sexual harassment, saying, "...sexual harassment includes such unwelcome
sexually determined behavior (whether directly or by implication) as:
Physical contact and advances; a demand or request for sexual favors;
sexually colored remarks; showing pornography; any other unwelcome
physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature." But the
guidelines have largely remained on paper and very few women have
succeeded in securing justice when it comes to sexual harassment in the
workplace.
Take Meenakshi, who was a secretary to the chief executive officer (CEO)
of an American multinational based in Hyderabad. Her boss often harassed
her and was aware that, as the sole breadwinner of her four-member family,
she was unlikely to protest. Meenakshi was constantly under pressure and
one day decided to complain to the US headquarters. The company sent a
woman from the Human Resources (HR) department to investigate. She
declared that if the charges were true, serious action would be taken
against the CEO.
The charges were proved. But the man in question was allowed to leave with
all his benefits in tact, while Meenakshi was marked as a troublemaker and
was soon issued a notice to quit because the company was downsizing.
Despite company rules saying so, she was not even financially compensated
for the psychological and mental torture she underwent. An embittered
Meenakshi says today, "It is a man's world out there. They can get over
such problems by just snapping their fingers. The women are left to cope
with the trauma and the stigma."
Meenakshi insists that there is a "Men's Club" in every office which
becomes very active during such crises. "Firing a man who has sexually
harassed women colleagues only makes other women more vulnerable."
While women in junior positions are more vulnerable, women executives and
even bureaucrats are not entirely exempt from this treatment. A 2002 study
conducted by the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy, Mussourie, shows that 21.4
per cent women civil servants feel that sexual harassment is on the
increase in premier government jobs. The case of the Kerala IAS officer,
Nalini Netto, who filed harassment charges against a state minister, is
well known. The minister was charge-sheeted; although he quit the
ministry, he continued to be a member of the Legislative Assembly. His
party also gave him a ticket to contest the subsequent elections.
Donna Fernandes of Vimochana, a leading women's organization in Bangalore,
says, "After the Supreme Court directive, many government organizations
have set up a Complaints Committee to deal with cases of sexual harassment
at workplace." But Fernandes feels that women still do not come forward
because they fear they will not be taken seriously. They also dread the
character assassination that inevitably follows such complaints.
While several institutions and companies will claim to adhere to the
sexual harassment policy, they opt for a compromise when it comes to
taking stern action against the guilty. A Kolkata-based IT company's HR
official claims, "Mechanisms for redressal are in place and if proved, an
offender could
face serious action depending on the level of the harassment." Yet, in
several cases, the legal advice offered to companies is that a guilty man
should not be sacked but allowed to step down.
Sachi's story is an example of the insensitivity of organizations towards
the issue. Her trauma began when her middle-aged boss started giving her
compliments and even touching her. Unable to express her anger directly,
Sachi stopped smiling at him or wishing him. The boss became nasty and
started picking on her. He even threatened to withhold her confirmation if
she was not nice to him. Sachi complained to the Delhi office, which
confirmed her but took no action against the manager. The harassment
stopped only when Sachi got married, left the job and moved to another
city.
Sachi says, "Most girls are expected to ignore verbal and physical
harassment in public places. Decent girls don't protest." Even at the
workplace women are expected to adopt the same behavior.
While the women continue to traumatized, it is clear that employers or the
decision-makers - men, in other words - don't want to clear up the mess in
their own companies.
(The names of some women have been changed to protect their identity.)
– Melanie P Kumar
May 18, 2003
By arrangement with
Womens Feature Service
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