Women’s safety in workplace

 

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The ILO Declaration of Philadelphia of 1944 affirms that "all human beings, irrespective of race, creed or sex, have the right to pursue both their material well-being and their spiritual development in conditions of freedom and dignity, of economic security and equal opportunity and that discrimination constitutes a violation of rights enunciated by the Universal Declaration of Human rights." The aim of this Convention is to protect all persons against discrimination at work, and requires ratifying states to ensure protection against discrimination in employment and occupation on seven grounds, namely race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction and social origin, as well as other grounds prohibited in national legislation by governments after consultation with the representative employers’ and workers’ organizations.

Despite the international consensus and national-level commitments to eliminate discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity and treatment, various forms of discrimination continue to prevail in the world of work. One form of discrimination on the ground of sex that should be addressed within the requirement of the Convention is sexual harassment. 

According to International Labour Organization, "Sexual harassment refers to unwelcome sexual advances or verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature which has the effect of unreasonably interfering with the individual’s work performance or creating a hostile, intimidating, abusive or offensive working environment."

Sexual harassment can be perpetrated against both women and men. However, the majority of cases of sexual harassment in the workplace are perpetrated by men against women as women often do not have equal status as men, lack power and are in more vulnerable and insecure positions. While it is difficult to quantify the prevalence of sexual harassment in the workplace due to the varying definitions and perceptions of sexual harassment and the reluctance of the  harassed to report their experiences, studies have revealed that sexual harassment at the workplace is a reality for a large number of women. 

Why does sexual harassment happen?

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Most sexual harassment is used by men against women as a display of power to intimidate, coerce, and degrade. Sexual harassment happens frequently in high pressure working environments and in workplaces where the stresses and challenges facing supervisors and managers are not always recognized or acknowledged. Sexual harassment has a serious and negative impact on women’s health and well-being. Women may experience physical injuries, fear, anxiety, embarrassment, and shame. 

 Women may blame themselves for the incident(s) and may feel that they are disgracing their family, and they are often frightened of it happening again. Victims of sexual harassment often do not flee reports because they are afraid of losing their jobs; afraid of Mobbing, bullying, and further victimization; or afraid that the report would not be taken seriously.

Types of Sexual Harassment at the workplace

 According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) there are two kinds of sexual harassment in the workplace: 

·      Quid pro quo sexual harassment 

This type of sexual harassment implies seeking sexual favours or making sexual advances in exchange for benefits at work. It includes instances when:

·      There are implicit or explicit requests or demands for unwelcome sexual activity as a term or condition of employment

·      Consent to or rejection of unwelcome sexually explicit behaviour or speech is made a condition for employment, or refusal to comply with a ‘request’ is met with retaliatory action such as dismissal, demotion, difficult work conditions.

·      Hostile Work Environment 

A hostile working environment involves uninvited and unwelcome conducts or behaviour whether they are physical, verbal, non-verbal or visual forms that create a work environment that makes it uncomfortable for a worker to be there. A hostile working environment is usually dependent on circumstances, frequency (repetitive misconduct rather than a single episode of misbehaviour), and severity.

 

The Sexual Harassment of Women (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 recognizes these types and forms of sexual harassment and states that if the following circumstances occur or are present concerning, or connected with any act or behaviour of sexual harassment may amount to sexual harassment at the workplace: 

• Implied or explicit promise of preferential treatment in her employment
• Implied or explicit threat of detrimental treatment in her employment
• Implied or explicit threat about her present or future employment status
• Interference with her work or creating an intimidating or offensive or hostile work environment for her
• Humiliating treatment likely to affect her health or safety.

 

Preventing Sexual Harassment

 

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In  India, the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 deems it the duty of the employer, as well as other responsible persons in workplaces or institutions to “provide protection against sexual harassment of women at workplace and for the prevention and redressal of complaints of sexual harassment and matters connected therewith or incidental thereto”. This implies that these individuals are responsible to: 

·      prevent or deter the commission of acts of sexual harassment within the workplace 

·      provide the procedures for the resolution, settlement or prosecution of acts of sexual harassment by taking all required steps.

The duties of an employer and/or the appropriate Government towards the prevention of Sexual harassment in the workplace have been explicitly laid down in the Act as follows:

• Provide a safe working environment at the workplace which shall include safety from third party (outsiders) coming into contact at the workplace
• Display penal consequences of sexual harassment
• Display information about the grievance handling mechanisms including about the Internal Committee 
• Organize workshops and awareness programmes at regular intervals for sensitizing the employees with the provisions of the Act
• Organize orientation programmes for the members of the Internal Committee
• Treat sexual harassment as misconduct under the service rules and initiate action for such misconduct.

 Although maintaining a clear workplace anti-harassment Policy, establishing and maintaining an ICC, and raising awareness of the consequence of harassment are legal requirements, businesses can take an active role in preventing violence and promoting gender equality. For instance, one factory in Bengaluru successfully used a series of street plays, one-to-one interactions, experience sharing, and health camps to improve attitudes related to gender norms in the workplace and the workers’ Community.  

There needs to be an overhaul of the criminal justice system as well as a change in the values, morals and perception towards women in our society. The Act alone would not be able to combat the plague of sexual harassment, and it is up to us as a nation and society to bring the change from within to ensure that this menace is eradicated from society.

-by

Prabhneet Kaur

Member, WiB

Breaking Barriers: Women in Business

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“Women challenge the status quo because we are never it.”

A humdrum will stir with any mention of feminism today, tomorrow or even the day before. The maintenance of women suppressing traditions remains an affluent theme within the transitioning times. In spaces like these, women entering businesses dawn a crown of ‘breaking taboos’. With her work taken less, her achievements adorned when with the name of male subordinate, paid less for equal work we see the passive effects of patriarchy, gnawing at the roots of an autonomy that the world pressures women to ensue for now they are a ‘businesswoman’.

“A recent study showed that in India, measures to close the gender gap could lead to a 6.8 per cent gain in GDP. Another study estimated that advancing women’s equality in India could boost its GDP by $0.7 trillion in 2025 or 16 per cent as compared to the ‘business as usual’ scenario” (Korreck, 2019). Such staggering numbers not only discover the importance of women overlooking business but also the impedances as to how and why they have been amiss from the sector. “Across a broad spectrum of industries and occupations, women are segregated in the low-paid, low-prestige positions that men do not want” (Loscocco, Karyn A. & Robinson, Joyce,1991). Even immigration to small businesses is indebted with barriers. This is because the managerial and business skills that are fundamental to the sector require work experience which is absent to many of the women in society.

On an individual level, some women have strong entrepreneurial ambitions. Interestingly, several of the interview partners mentioned that they got inspired by male role models such as Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, or that they were introduced to the “startup world” by their male friends who are entrepreneurs. On an institutional level, the government has launched several schemes to augment the entrepreneurial motivations of women and there is a more noticeable political will to empower them. But however, looking beyond high individual and political aspirations and investigating the statistics of how many women actually own businesses shows a rather dismal scenario. The data from the Sixth Economic Census, which was conducted between January 2013 and April 2014, shows that out of 58.5 million businesses counted by that census, 8.05 million were owned by women, which corresponds to a rate of 13.76 per cent of women among the total number of entrepreneurs in India.

But now with the passage of time, women’s life has undergone a major transformation in recent times. The modern woman is no longer confined to the four walls of the house. Women are now realizing their worth in every way and are breaking the glass barrier in almost every field, be it technology, space, sports or armed forces. Almost every fifth woman is an entrepreneur – both in urban and rural areas.

Examples of famous businesswomen can include the name of the Co-founder of Menstrupedia: Aditi Gupta. She is one of the Indian women entrepreneurs who is an author and the co-founder of the comic Menstrupedia. Tired of the myths and misinformation that surrounded Menstruation she took it upon herself to make a change. She and her husband co-founded the comic in 2012. In 2014 she was listed on the Forbes India 30 under 30 list for Breaking Barriers: Women in Business her work towards breaking the taboo. Today, Menstrupedia has been used in more than 6,000 schools and has benefited more than 10,00,000 girls in over 14 languages. Aditi is a social woman entrepreneur in India working towards raising awareness about menstruation. She is a Ted Talk speaker and her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, CNBC and BBC.

Another example can include the name of Ashwini, the co-founded a cloud-based platform Mad Street Den. She has experience leading the mobile innovation team at Intel’s Interaction and Experience Research Lab in Silicon Valley. She has more than a decade’s worth of experience in Silicon Valley. This led to her interest in artificial intelligence. Thus, by utilizing the full potential of women,  entrepreneurs can promote innovation, economic growth, and job creation. Overcoming these barriers is a matter of grit and passion of individual women themselves, as well as tackling structural factors in the external environment, which they alone have limited control over.

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Prabhneet Kaur 

Shreya Rawat

Members, WiB

Role of women in the Healthcare Industry

 

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Women have dominated the market of health care consumers in the 21st century. Women are responsible for more than 80 per cent of purchasing and access decisions in the healthcare and medical sector which affect their health and those of their family members. Health care consumers are primarily focused on receiving timely and quality care for themselves and their dear ones. Improved health outcomes, quality of patient care and customer service directly impact client retention and patient referrals, thereby affecting the company’s/hospital's bottom line. Having more people in leadership attuned to clients’ needs, perspectives and experiences can translate into increased innovation and overall business opportunity. Health care companies should understand their workforce dynamics by maximizing their opportunities and increase women’s representation in senior leadership and management.


Whether it is the Covid or the pre-Covid time, women have always been leading the health response with 70% of the health care workforce being occupied by women. They have been serving on the frontlines against COVID-19. All these conditions expose them to a greater risk of infection.

Despite their dominance in the workforce, women are largely under-represented in the senior leadership ranks of the industry. Their participation in senior and executive leadership varies by country and region and is affected by whether they are working in the private or public sector. But this didn't demotivate them to fight against Covid.


In Congo, many women's cooperatives are helping the nation battle the pandemic. To encourage such women cooperatives the WHO Representation Office in the Congo partnered with the United Nations to make a donation in mask-making supplies to the Congo’s Ministry of Health as part of its promotion of health and the advancement of women’s work. The donation promotes and acknowledges the role women’s activities play in the fight against COVID-19.

In India also, almost all nurses are women, dealing with patients affected by Coronavirus. Not only nurses but Asha workers have also been working very hard in these covid times. One such example includes Sunita Rani, an accredited social health activist worker. Since March, Sunita has done 11 rounds of interviews among the 1,000 people under her care. She has walked up to five kilometers a day, telling people to stay home, documenting the elderly and the sick, monitoring for symptoms, checking on those who need medicine.“In the early days, there were no masks so I wrapped my face with my chunni,” she said.

When we think of front-line warriors, we tend to think of doctors and nurses, never about India’s grassroots health workers, the ones on the ground with links to their community, monitoring, checking, fighting a global enemy at great personal risk with little protection, less money and almost negligible acknowledgement.

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Although the health care sector is unique in that the global majority of workforce is comprised of women, the leadership positions are not proportional to this large worker base. Due to factors like occupational segregation and underlying conscious/ unconscious biases and power dynamics prevalent in the health care industry since long, women are more likely to be represented in roles that curb their career development and access to leadership or the power of decision-making. True that women are on the front lines of healthcare but on the flip side, several recurring issues surfaced regarding women’s opportunities to progress:

1. SOCIO-CULTURAL AND LEGAL BARRIERS and gendered norms, stereotypes regarding women’s occupational choices.

2. CONFLICT BETWEEN WORK AND FAMILY LIFE women given the “maternal identity” and the caretaker of household affairs.

3. SEXUAL HARASSMENT which is unfortunately rampant in the health care industry. We need more transparency, accountability, trust and action to overcome it.

4. OCCUPATIONAL SEGREGATION

5. UNCONSCIOUS BIAS AND THE IMPOSTOR SYNDROME where an overwhelming 71 per cent of women respondents cited ‘underselling skills’ followed by lack of confidence as the barrier.

6. LACK OF NETWORKS AND FEMALE LEADERSHIP ROLE MODELS because of which women find themselves the only ones in the room regardless of their status in the company.



Given the complexity and interconnectedness of various barriers to advancement, the following recommendations are suggested to approach the issues holistically:

1. INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNICATION

2. ANALYSE TALENT MANAGEMENT DATA, ESTABLISH TARGETS AND DEVELOP A STRATEGY

3. IMPLEMENT EFFECTIVE POLICIES AND ADDRESS SEXUAL HARASSMENT

4. LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT, MENTORSHIP PROGRAMS AND NETWORKS

5. NOMINATE WOMEN TO COMPANY AND INDUSTRY BOARDS

6. ENSURE WORK-LIFE INTEGRATION

7. SUPPORT WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN THE HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

-by

Shreyasi Saha Roy,

Mrigakshi

Members, WiB