As COVID-19 pandemic has forced several countries into a lockdown, cases of domestic violence rose at an alarming pace all over the world. The National Commission for Women (NCW) has recorded a twofold rise in gender-based violence and sexual harassment. On April 6, 2020, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a “ceasefire” to address the “horrifying global surge in domestic violence.” It is indeed shameful that the protectors are becoming the perpetrators. If work from home is perceived to be the new norm, government has to play a vital role in securing safety of women even at her own homes.

By Dr. Neelam Gupta

It is 2020 and we are regressing! Safety of women is emerging as a bigger challenge, not only in India, but also globally. Women Rights are Human Rights. Women have the right to be free from violence, sexual harassment and discrimination.

However, World Health Organization estimates that about 35 per cent women worldwide have experienced either physical or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime.

Safety and security is central to a women’s physical, intellectual, emotional, economic and spiritual well-being. When women are able to live in safe and secure environment, they can participate effectively in the economy and society. This helps overcome poverty, reduces inequalities and is beneficial for children's nutrition, health and school attendance. Every woman and girl has the right to live in safety in her home and community.

Despite our growing economy, India has one of lowest female work force participation rates in the world, with only 24.4.per cent women in the workforce. Concerns of personal safety, security including fear of sexual harassment and oppressive social norms that restrict women’s mobility, prevent women from seeking employment and confine them to primary caregiver roles.

While rape and sexual assaultare generally seen as more heinous and grave crimes, there is a far more pervasive problem is of sexual harassment of women at workplace. But the coverage and reporting that sexual harassment receives is negligible as compared to rape and sexual assault. Sexual harassment at the workplace is rampant but no one talks about it.

The recent case of a female IAS officer in Haryana, resigning from her highly celebrated post because of safety reasons is enough to ring a call.And if that doesn’t suffice to address the situation then the latest report from National Commission of Women suggests almost 70 per cent increase in the cases of harassment of women at workplace just in a span of one year from 2018-19 to 2019-20.

For a long time sexual harassment was dealt only under penal laws in India, which necessitated the victim to approach a police station and courts of law for relief.The perception changed when the Supreme Court of India in the case Vishaka v. State of Rajasthanlaid down guidelines for combating sexual harassment.

It was in this landmark judgment that the Supreme Court for the first time recognized right against sexual harassment as part of right to livelihood and right to equality.

In this regard, to tackle the problem of sexual harassment, the Ministry of Women and Child Development, by a Notification dated December 9, 2013 passed the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 which became effective from December 9, 2013. 

The Ministry also made the rules with regard to the same effective from the same date. These rules are called the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules.

In India, the Companies Act, in 2013, also mandated women representation on company boards to safeguard interests of women. According to a 2016 KPMG study, the proportion of women directors in NSE-listed companies increased by 180 per cent between 2013 and 2016.

Yet women on boards were still just 13.7 per cent, up from 4.9 per cent in 2013. The needle had moved, but still several problems hinder the rebalancing of this equation.Organisational mandates need to move beyond adhering to the law or meeting diversity targets. They need to go deeper, and work with the benefits of an equal, gender-balanced workplace.

Although we have a progressive law on sexual harassment of women at the workplace, but laws alone cannot change behaviours which are the result of deep-rooted gender bias, of beliefs and attitudes in society itself. Discrimination and unequal treatment are rampant everywhere.

Integrating the PoSH Act (Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act) with an organization’s rules and framework for compliance is only half of the work done to create a safer workplace for women. Taking actions to implement and ensure women safety in the workplace is the actual and effective solution. 

Currently, COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown has forced everyone to work from home. When home becomes the work place for a woman, we should expect her to stay safe. However, the lockdown has resulted in a steep rise in violence against women.

The National Commission for Women (NCW), which receives complaints from across the country, has recorded a twofold rise in gender-based violence and sexual harassment. In fact, as COVID-19 pandemic has forced several countries into a lockdown, cases of domestic violence rose at an alarming pace all over the world.

On 6 April 2020, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a “ceasefire” to address the “horrifying global surge in domestic violence.” It is indeed shameful that the protectors are becoming the perpetrators.

If work from home is perceived to be the new norm, government has to play a vital role in securing safety of women even at her own homes.

What is the point in having laws for the protection of women if the system is restrictive and inhibiting? There has to be an upgrade of infrastructure to protect the rights of women.

There is a desperate need for effective helplines, fast-track courts, efficient judiciary, widespread and quality one-stop crisis centres and shelter homes, and funding for programmes to educate and advocate on women’s rights.

The police must ensure police stations are welcoming places for women to make complaints. It does not serve anyone well that official statistics on crime against women are severely under-reported. Suppressing these complaints only weakens the system and emboldens perpetrators.

The mirror reflecting this grim reality of violence and harassment of women can be painful. But it signals a full stop to all atrocities and oppression against women.

Wide spread violence and harassment of women is a disease, a pandemic in our society. It not only affects the woman, her work and her life, but it affects her family as well and it cripples the society, making them only half effective.

Women have to gather courage and speak for themselves, for each other. Quitting like the Haryana Officer is not a choice anymore. Women have to fight for themselves, for each other. We need a world where women are safe.

(Dr. Neelam Gupta, Founder of AROH Foundation, an NGO working to empower poor and alleviate poverty, is a prominent thought leader and a prolific writer expressing her opinion on a variety of topics like education, gender, culture, livelihood, social development, etc.  president.aroh@gmail.com)

Sexual Assault Image courtesy – Pixabay / Getty Image via CNBC.com