Progress of women in the world of business

What will happen if most women enter the world of business? 

Whenever we hear the word 'business, we think about the men! However, nowadays the way women are excelling themselves in business and the corporate sectors clearly shows their enthusiasm and courage to become self-employed women. 

Women have different ways to go to achieve parity in terms of entrepreneurship and access to funding. Today, women entrepreneurs play a huge role in the Indian economy as well as in the whole world. We have seen many times in the news about women's business for instance Kylie cosmetics, PepsiCo, Unilever where the woman’s role is incredible. 

 But sometimes this scenario is not well fitted in the context of developing countries because there are a lot of hurdles, restrictions, and challenges for women to grow and set up their businesses.

Therefore, Here we're going to understand how women build their regime in the private sector by facing innumerable struggles in life. few points which can help us to understand women's growth in the business world:

WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN BUSINESS:  Biggest Threat To Patriarchy? 

The world economy has grown steadily over the last decade, and there has been a parallel surge in the number of startups and new businesses in the country. A majority of these have been founded by men. During the fourth world conference on women, in Beijing United Nations have created a global platform for action on gender equality and women empowerment for the development of women's potential within society. 

The most important point in the conference was equitable participation by women in the economic activities of their respective countries. The region’s commitment to the goals laid down for equitable participation by women in economic activities has been consolidated in the light of these programs and platforms for action. Thus, each country has amended its legal framework and created institutions oriented towards the development and promotion of gender equity.

MAJOR CHANGES OVER RECENT DECADES

Women’s participation in the public world and the labor market, in particular, brought profound transformations in the labour market and educational attainments, declining female fertility rates, alterations in family relationships, and improved access to decision-making.

The growth in women’s labour force participation has repercussions for a country’s economic development. There is likewise evidence from several countries that a rise in incomes controlled by women has a strong effect on their families, as their spending is largely for their children’s benefit (World Bank, 2012).

The gap between men and women held steady at the global level until 2008 when it widened 

because of the international financial crisis. 

In Latin America and the Caribbean, female participation in the labour force has increased 

progressively and steadily, rising from 43.5% in 1992 to 49.6% in 2002 and 52.6% in 2012, while male participation dropped from 82.5% in 1992 to 80.3% in 2002 and 79.5% in 2012 (ILO, 2012). 

AN INSPIRATIONAL STORY: A WONDERFUL WOMEN INDRA NOOYI

"I'm not here to tell you what to eat"... 

(INDRA NOOYI) 

In her traditional Brahmin family in India, education was everything. That prepared her to flourish in corporate America and rise to become chief executive of PepsiCo.When Indra Nooyi stepped down as chief executive of PepsiCo last year, she was replaced by a man — and the ranks of female C.E.O.s further dwindled.

Rebellious child Indra Nooyi moved to America in 1978 to study at Yale University. While in India, she worked as a product manager with a couple of reputable firms. She has always been very determined and strategic towards her work. 

She shattered gender stereotypes and played a key role in PepsiCo(1994). 

She has also been named as one of the most powerful executives by many magazines and business publications. She has also been honored with the Padma Bhusan in 2007 by the government of India. 

• Nooyi was 42 years old when she became the fifth Chairman & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PepsiCo. 

• She currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Amazon. 

STATISTICS: Progress of women in the 

world of business

According to the National Association of Women Business Owners, there are a total of 12.3 million women-owned businesses in the US. Businesses run by women produce $1.8 trillion a year according to the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council. Another woman in business statistic from WBENC points out that 4 of every 10 US businesses are women-owned. 64% of the businesses started last year by women were started by women of color.  So, the growth of women-run businesses was driven by a majority of women of color starting small businesses. Women entrepreneurs running businesses 20 years ago, the number of women entrepreneurs running businesses today shows over 114% growth. According to Forbes, when private tech companies are run by women, they render a 35% higher return on investment than those run by men. 

         Hence, things are certainly better than they used to be, but there's still plenty of room for improvement. When it comes to confidence, women are still facing a lack of it. So as a woman we should stand with other women. To succeed as an entrepreneur it's important to make it as a leader and "believe you can do it and believe you can do it- even if you don't know how".

- By Surangana and Diksha

WIB Members

The presence of imposter phenomena in the workplace.

 WHAT IS THE IMPOSTER PHENOMENON?

Imposter syndrome in a general way is defined as doubting your abilities and feeling like a fraud. It felt as penetrating self-doubt, insecurity and the belief that any of your achievements or successes are due to luck or anything but not your abilities. It excessively influences high achieving people, who find it hard to accept their attainments. It makes them doubt their potential, many wonder whether they are even deserving or not. People suffering from imposter syndrome often be afraid of being unveiled as artifice.

SO CONCISELY PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT THEY ARE GETTING LUCKY RATHER THAN WORKING HARD FOR THEIR SUCCESS.

WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF IMPOSTER SYNDROME?

This may sound complex but imposter syndrome is a very common and not at all abnormal syndrome it can affect anyone but high-achieving individuals often experience it according to a website - OVER 70% OF PEOPLE WILL EXPERIENCE IMPOSTER SYNDROME at some point in their lives. 

Still according to some professionals imposter syndrome is likely the result of various factors including personality traits such as professionalism and perfectionism and also your background and family status it is most likely to be rooted in the families that value achievement above all. Self-doubt, the pressure to work hard and long, overachieving and overthinking can also contribute vastly. The studies have shown that the phenomenon is experienced by both genders equally.

HOW TO DEAL WITH IMPOSTER SYNDROME?

Regardless of job or social status imposter syndrome can affect anyone. Many experience symptoms for a limited time, while for some people it can even last lifelong. But there are some ways which might help to stop feeling like an imposter in the workplace. 

• Firstly, controlling your ability to overthinking might help miraculously.
• Separating what you feel from what you know for a matter of fact it doesn't have to be what it seems to be.
• Draw attention to the positive.
• Don't resolute over routine tasks and let off yourself when the unavoidable mistake happens.
• Develop a healthy response to failure and mistake making. 
• Envisioning success might also help. 

 - AFTER ALL, FAILURE IS SUCCESS IN PROGRESS

                                                                                               -- by Aditi 

                                                                                                  WIB Member

HOW TO CRACK BUSINESS AND CONSULTING INTERVIEWS?

In the broad sense, interviewing is the process whereby individuals exchange information. The individuals may be concerned with a job opening, a promotion, a special assignment, a product sale, information for intelligence purposes, a proposed merger, or other questions. The information exchanged need not be limited to facts. In business, particularly, such products of an interview as meaning and understanding are oftentimes more significant than objective factual statements. Let’s look at some tips for doing well in a management consulting firm case interview

Let's approach this as if it was a consulting interview question in itself and let's understand 

a) What They’re looking for and 

b) How we get there.

a) As with any other job interview, interviewers in management consulting are asking themselves three questions:

Would I like to work with this person?

Does this person have / can this person learn the skills?

Can this person be placed in front of a client?

b) So let's address all 3 of these:

Would I like to work with this person?

This is where your people skills will come in. You can have the best case interview answers of all time.

Does this person have / can this person learn the skills?

There is a good saying: "Hire attitude, train skills" - This doesn't mean that you can completely lack skills and get an offer, but it does allude to the fact that your skills need not be perfect the day that they hire you. They, however, expect that you will want to learn and grow within the company, so that in a short amount of time after you begin working, you will indeed have the necessary skills.

Can this person be placed in front of a client?

As a junior consultant, you will often spend your days analyzing analysis. However, if you work in a small company you will very early on be expected to be able to carry out your meetings with the client. That means that you will be placed in rooms with executives who are more experienced and more knowledgeable than you are. If you can't handle your nerves during a case interview, They can be pretty certain that you won't be able to handle your nerves when the client asks you a question you have no answer for. This is why it is important to stay cool, calm, and collected during your interview.

Put emphasis on how you present yourself. The way that you present yourself and the way you present the answers is the key. In technical questions, it’s important to think about how you can bring your answer from a logical standpoint and walk through your thinking and show how you’re getting to that answer. Now let’s look at some of the classic errors to be avoided 

# Do not assume your immediate surroundings as a sample to make guesstimates, sometimes it may not be the representative sample.

# Don’t let your personal bias come in the way. Look at facts in isolation from your own emotion. 

#Look beyond your socio-economic background. Look at the world from far wider angles, think about all possible points of view.

Lastly, it’s crucial to be in the right mental headspace on the interview day. This will hopefully allow you to speak in that conversational way, ask good and smart questions as they come up, and do it all with confidence. Now keeping the tips and tricks in mind enjoy answering this question

How many people in India visit drama theatres? What is its market size.?

 

                                                                                                                 - By Aditi and Naina

                                                                                                                     WIB Members

Should India normalize students having part-time jobs?

A part-time job is a mode of employment that carries fewer hours per week than a full-time job. Employees commonly work in shifts, normally fewer than 30 hours per week. Part-time employees receive the same employment entitlements as full-time workers. In recent years, the demand for part-time jobs among students has risen tremendously. Part-time jobs provide exposure and bring about personality enhancement for those students who wish to explore the world.

 

Let us talk about the pros and cons that students might face while working.

 

One of the huge benefits of working part-time is that you end up with a little bit more money in your pocket than your usual allowance. But in addition to that, you begin to appreciate the value of money a little more. Now it so happens that rather than just being provided the money to buy things that you might want or need, you start earning that money for yourself, and then maybe those sunglasses that were a thousand bucks don't look quite so appealing anymore when you have become conscious of the hours of work it took for you to gain that.

If you have a part-time role while you are studying, you will find that you will acquire plenty of significant soft skills like teamwork and time management. You can offer your initiative or an opinion. You will be working with people and that will certainly hone your interpersonal communication skills. But most of all, you will gain the confidence that if you can engage in part-time work then you can give your future employers or universities that you are applying to, some real-life examples of how you have shown some of those key skills and competencies that we all know that they are looking for. These non-academic skills are crucially important to not only them but also for you and the rest of your future.

 

An inconvenience that often so arises is the lack of accessibility for suitable jobs. To find an appropriate job that would be an asset to your CV, a little rummaging around the web is a must. However, the main difficulty that young people face is that their time management skills are put under pressure while trying to create a balance between work and school. But studies have shown that students who successfully work part-time are the most organized and juggling between academics and work builds up a character beneficial for their careers ahead.

 

According to a survey conducted in India, only 45% of the students opt for part-time jobs and only one-third of them are able to accomplish the undertaking whereas, in the west, we can see that it's well over 75%. There are many reasons for the unpopularity of part-time employment among students in our country and the following lines account for some of them.

 

1.      Almost 60% of India is rural which narrows down the opportunities by a considerable amount.

2.      The remaining 40% brimming with opportunities believe that the students are not competent enough to be working for their firms.

3.      The psychological barrier from families to provide undivided attention to academics while they subsidize their teenager’s fees as well as provide a monthly allowance for all their needs makes students very dependent.

4.      Students themselves do not see the potential experience they can gain as their individualism is being deprived of when most of their decisions are taken by others in the family.

5.      Employers do not seek students and refuse to give them work as they look for someone who will be a future asset to their company and not an unstable part-time student who would always be looking for better pay.

6.      The unvarying unemployment in India is leading to a lot of part-time jobs being taken up full-time by unwaged people.

 

India doesn’t encompass a mushrooming retail sector. Most of these retail stores are family-run corporations where they employ their kids for no pay. The blooming urbanized cities that provide for jobs however are not usually taken up by students owing to the disparaging attitude inculcated in them, preventing them from taking up odd jobs. Menial work is thought of as something reserved for a certain class of people. Whereas, for the same people, flipping burgers or working as a barista in other countries like the US and Japan isn’t something to be looked down upon. We grow up learning that education is the only path to a respectable and well-paid job. As a result, doing a part-time job is considered to be a distraction or a burden over and above studies. Moreover, they don’t find it necessary for the child to take up a job as the parents are earning and in some cases, earning plenty. In our culture, the people of our society, neighbors and relatives play a part in influencing our lives. Hence, they tend to misjudge part-time jobs as parents failing to provide for their children.

 

It is the need of the hour for India to start evolving towards a progressive country by uprooting the deep-seated archaic norms and start acknowledging the importance of letting their youths be more independent by taking up jobs to pay their bills or any extra expenses, being financially aware, socialize and network with experienced people and learn the pre-requisite of multi-tasking. Society needs to start encouraging students to contribute and form communities of their own. This can be initiated by an authorized change in the education system by the Government to incentivize volunteering, training, and internships. Right upon activation, perhaps it won’t be paid or have a lot of work for students to do. But getting the ball rolling will still provide the encouragement for students to socialize, teach them the value of community and give them an insight into the workings of the real world.

                                                                       

                                                                                                       -By Dikshita and Pooja

                                                                                                             WIB Members

Top challenges of a new idea

Enterprises face a variety of obstacles in the early stages of development. As a company expands, various difficulties and options need to be answered differently. And in order to expand and thrive your business, you need to recognise and overcome usual expansion problems. Importantly, you need to ensure that today's actions do not pose any further problems in the future. All these challenges can be divided into three main challenges.

We live in a fast-paced world, especially for enterprises. Consider how, in just one generation, firms have had to adapt to whole new marketing channels (online and social), decide how to invest in and use new technology, and compete on a global scale - all of which were unthinkable to our parents' and grandparents' generations. All these challenges may be divided into three major categories as follows:

We live in a fast-moving world, for businesses in particular. Consider just how, in a single generation, companies had to adapt themselves to whole new (online and social) marketing channels, decide how they can invest in and use new technologies, and compete globally- all these being undeniable for the generations of our parents and grandparents. The following can be divided into three main categories: 

 

a. Ideation:: The first checkpoint for product-based problems is the idea, it's not as simple as it sounds. Brainstorm and brainstorm, then a great and unique idea, should be developed. Factors like what customers need should also be included, what customers will need during brainstorming in the next few years.    

 

b. Product engineering issues::   Engineering dependencies also hinder product initiatives. The test phase is also essential for the product life cycle to make sure the actual result fulfills the desired result. Although problems or bugs are often identified during the testing phase, it is important to fix and re-tested these problems before we go live so that our customers are not dissatisfied. 

a. Pricing policy:: Transforming an idea into a product is one thing, but it's a completely different ball game. If you charge too much, no one is going to buy your stuff. You run the risk of losing a lot of money when charging a low price. It's all about finding this sweet place at your customers prices. Factors such as hiring costs, market expenditures and product expenses must be taken into account before developing a pricing strategy.

 

 b.. Pricing policy :: Growing start-ups report quality decreases while they scale, especially those with rapid growth. A small number of people are responsible for all the operations for the first year or two. Expert professionals begin a company, offer excellent quality, work on quality and build a customer base. New roles are created throughout the growth period. Since recruitment and onboarding processes are still in infancy, it separates the quality level from one team member to another.

                                             

2. Market based challenges:

 

a. Market viability: An idea might seem good on paper, but its use in practise is only expensive on the market. Before development begins, always do market research. One of the key aspects of new businesses is market research. It is not only market competition which should be analysed but also its target customers, because they are the one who buys the product. The opinions and interests of the target market must be known. Use the market research information to develop a minimally viable product(MVP). Enhance the key features and advantages of the product for clients. One of the most common MVP errors is to design a simple prototype with only one feature. Add as many features as you can

 

b.Competitors:: Before you launch a new product, you must check out its competitors and we are talking about other companies which can provide their customers with the same or similar goods and services. Not only are your competition competitors those with whom you compete. They include potential competitors that will be able to compete in your future market. Your work arrangements can also affect whether or not you compete with those with whom you work. You may also have an impact on whether you compete with your employees or not. If, however, you work on a contract or a fee for service basis, even when you work in the same location, you are considered to be competing with others who offer similar services. Before you launch your product or service, you should see what problems your product already has on the market and how you can overcome these problems.

 

c.Sales :: Sales are a must to power the engine of the company. A successful sales strategy opens up potential growth in all corporate departments — hiring new team members, investment in brand construction, training of existing staff, raises and bonuses, and a safety net if anything goes wrong. The market environment changes rapidly if a well established sales process is in place. New opportunities for consumers (or competitors) are open to them. The retention of top salesmen is costly and they eat the margins of the business. One should therefore concentrate more on retaining existing clients. With a drop in quality, price increase and the start of a more lucrative competition, customer retention can be impeded. 

 

d.Marketing :: Building a new product or service marketing isn't a tea cup for everyone. It is important to take the first step to improve your marketing strategy. Don't just miss out. Don't miss out. Before you begin, you should segment your market. Market segmentation facilitates the development of highly targeted and efficient marketing campaigns and plans for marketing teams. Market segmentation is important because it makes marketing efforts and resources easier to reach the most valuable audiences and achieve business goals.

With defined segments, companies can meet a range of customer requirements by offering different packages and incentives. For different segments, different forms of promotion will be applied on the basis of needs and characteristics for different segments. If a company focuses on a particular segment, its competitiveness on the market increases. This leads to increased ROI in turn. The company focuses on certain segments and learns all about the segment to commercialise its products for them.

                                                                      

       3.Core team problems:-

 a.Lack of communication:: The success of a company is needed by establishing an efficient

 communication protocol and an easy process. There are so many factors that contribute: 

insufficient experience, vague requirements, fear of management deception (or loss of work),

 ego, and poor processes. You could say freely, without any fear of peer pressure, what you 

want. And the head should also try to understand the feelings and ideas of their colleagues.

Strategic leadership should be tackled. Strategic leadership is aimed at defining the right road map for the company or department; dividing it into operative parts; delegating the aims to the right parties; bringing together the team; encouraging each individual member and moving the needle both short and long term.

 

 b. Time management::How and at what point is not as straightforward as it would seem. It is a craft to allocate time effectively to the right initiatives. Productive time management maximises each employee's potential. The Power Law starts with a team: two slow parties will drag an order further exponentially and initiate overhead communication. If you have to succeed as a brand/team, you need time management. This involves the time of founders, executives, supervisors and all of the company.

 

 

 

                                                                                                              -by 

                                                                                                               Manisha and Garima,

                                                                                                               member WIB

                                                                                       

 

 

 

WHY AND HOW WOMEN COMMUNITY BE STIMULATED IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND BUILDING START- UPS

 

When women move forward, the family moves, the village moves- as rightly said by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru. We often see women confined to the four walls of their room . Our world and country is growing day by day but this is hardly known among Indian women . They still are dominated by their father , husband and son . They are struggling for economic Independence and every country wants economic development . Entrepreneurship and building startups can provide a better platform for women to show their capabilities . One often finds them working in small factories , making handmade products . However their contribution is not small . They are very innovative but the problem here is mostly that people can’t give importance to their work . So, this platform of building startups and entrepreneurship will provide them enthusiasm and we will be able to acknowledge the brilliant tasks performed by them . 

People think working in an office is not a good choice for women . They recommend them to do work as a teacher , beautician or any job related to caretaker . But now is a good time to correct people and their false assumptions . The fact lies in men don’t wanting to see women as their opposite . They interpret that women need security and they can’t work together with them. But the official jobs of entrepreneurship and building start ups will make the women confident enough to talk with men , sit with them and compete with men . If a woman will take the right step then the other woman will take the right step then the other woman automatically joins her . We saw women like Kiran Muzumdar Shaw ( chairman and managing director of Biocon limited receive various coveted corporate awards and civilian awards like Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan ) . We have women entrepreneurs like Vadana luthra , Ekta Kapoor , Naina Lal Kidwai who not only compete with men but also achieve excellence with this platform .

But The struggle of women to prove their identity is harder than we expect. It is not so easy for women to step up for startups. But women always proved themselves in these fields and recent research statistics prove that women are more trustable to invest even Covid time as compared to men. There is a need to provide ways to encourage women to have more participation for future startups because many young ladies lose their hopes due to criticizing the environment provided to them, so that future women can come forward and take their places in future business era.

As women are the future of economics as told by many economists, involvement of women in future startups can be improved by taking some initiatives by both the private and public sector. They can create incentives for individuals and organizations to invest in women owned companies through venture funds, corporate venture, private equity and social capital. Many steps are taken by the International Labour Organization for the progress of women such as The Women’s Entrepreneurship Development and Gender Equality project promotes women’s entrepreneurship and supports women entrepreneurs to create decent employment , achieve women’s empowerment and gender equality. There are many  schemes launched by Indian government also such as  The Women Entrepreneurship Platform, Bhartiya Mahila Bank to help young entrepreneurs financially to set up their business,  Dena Shakti Bank (opened specially for women entrepreneurs) and introduced new loans such as Shree Shakti Loan for women entreprene-urship. This data shows us that governments in many countries and even international organizations are expecting the upliftment of women in business.

It can be noticed though so many schemes and some financial help talented women with creative ideas are lagging behind in the business sector. There can be many reasons behind this such as illiteracy and poverty. Women with many brilliant ideas just stay far away from what they deserve because they are not aware of the help they can get from the government financially for their upliftment. Government should take up a step and inform the poor women about the ways they can use the government schemes for their better. Women are also not so welcome in the market and because of this they lose many opportunities, this needs to be changed. Also women should take the challenge and face everyone with full confidence.  There are many women in the business which are at top and running the unicorn companies, those women also started from very low level and reached upto the very heights.

Women are needed in the upcoming business era to improve the economy and for this they must be provided a better platform full of opportunities to prove themselves instead of putting them aside. Women are the future, they must have the same chance and many paths as there are for men. Women are needed to get aware about the schemes which can be useful and encourage themselves as well as other women to show themselves and their creativity to reach the level they really deserve. 

  -by

Sakshi and Yukta,

member WIB

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