A survey conducted by research agency MaRS, exclusively for Hindustan Times- one of India’s leading English newspaper, stated that more than 78% of women in Delhi have faced sexual harassment in some form or the other in 2012. The National Crime Records Bureau states that sexual harassment and other crimes against women increased by 6.4% in 2012. These staggering statistics bring to the forefront the alarming increase of sexual crime in our society and make us question if ‘any place is truly safe’.
Whether it is your house or your workplace, sexual harassment is a crime that can does not need a particular environment to occur. It can take place anytime, anywhere. Thus, it becomes extremely important for employees all across to know what Sexual harassment at workplace actually means and what steps they can take to put a stop to it. 
Sexual harassment at workplace is no longer a hushed topic, but an issue that both employers and employees are willing to discuss openly. 

What is Sexual Harassment?
Sexual Harassment refers to any unwelcome sexual advances, requests or sexual favors, and/or other verbal, visual or physical conduct of a sexual nature wherein:
Submission to or rejection of such conduct is either made explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment.
Submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as a basis for employment decisions affecting that individual; or Such conduct has the purpose of or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.
Unwelcome behavior does not automatically imply “involuntary “, as a victim may agree to a specific conduct and might even actively participate in it, despite it being objectionable or offensive. Sexual conduct is considered unwelcome whenever the person subjected to it considers it “unwelcome”. Moreover, it is on the basis of circumstances that we can determine whether a person welcomes a sexual gesture or not.

What Behavior can be considered as HARRASING!!

VERBAL:
 
Derogatory, sexually explicit or offensive comments, labels, jokes and/or slurs
Inappropriate comments regarding an individual's body or sexual activities
Sexual flirtations, repeated unwelcome propositions for dates or sexual activities
Direct or subtle pressure for dates or sexual activities

VISUAL:

Sexually oriented gestures
Exhibiting sexually suggestive or derogatory objects, pictures, cartoons, posters or drawings
Giving the ‘elevator eyes’ i.e. looking someone up and down

PHYSICAL:

Brushing against a person or touching an employee’s hair, clothes or body
Making unwanted physical contact such as touching, patting, pinching or obstructing or blocking someone’s movement

WRITTEN:

Offensive, suggestive, obscene or sexually explicit letters, notes, emails or invitations

Who Harasses and who is Harassed?

Contrary to common belief, sexual harassment at workplace is not restricted just between male bosses and female subordinates. It can also include:


Harassment of a supervisor by a subordinate
Same-sex harassment
Peer to peer harassment
Harassment of men by women
Third party harassment where harassers can be supervisors, colleagues or non-employees such as vendors, customers, clients, suppliers, etc.


What are the types of Sexual Harassment?
According to the US law, Sexual harassment is of two types.
 
Quid pro quo
	
Hostile Work Environment




Quid pro quo
Hostile Work Environment


Latin for 'this for that' or 'something for something'
Refers to unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature which leads to uncomfortable work environment for employees


Refers to an exchange between employees, in which an employee provides sexual favors in exchange of favorable treatment or benefits in work-related projects, salary hike, promotion, hiring, work timings, etc.
Happens when a colleague’s or supervisor’s verbal or physical conduct gives rise to an environment that interferes with an employee’s productivity and is intimidating, offensive or humiliating


Happens when an employee’s willingness to grant sexual favors affects employment decisions and conditions
An isolated incident is not sufficient o create hostile work environment except in certain cases of severe harassment 

The International Labor Organization (ILO) specifies that sexual harassment is not just a safety and health problem but an unacceptable working condition and a form of violence.
The Indian Supreme Court first recognized Sexual harassment as human rights violation and gender based systemic discrimination that affects women’s Right to Life and Livelihood just six years ago. The Apex court brought forth the Vishakha Guidelines for employers to resolve and prevent sexual harassment. 


Vishakha Guidelines

According to the guidelines, an employer is legally responsible for providing safe working environment to its employees.
   
The guidelines apply to both the organized and the unorganized work sectors.
  
All women whether working part time, on contract or in voluntary/honorary capacity are covered by the Vishakha Guidelines.
 
According to the guidelines, the most important preventive measure that employers need to adhere to is adoption of a sexual harassment policy, which explicitly prohibits sexual harassment at work place and provides a helpful grievance procedure.
 
The policy should clearly lay down the preventive measures and provisions for training the personnel at all levels of employment.


Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act, 2013

The act was passed in 2013 by the Indian Parliament to protect women against sexual harassment at workplace and prevent as well as redress such complaints. It explains sexual harassment at workplace and aims at reducing any bias or influence by people in positions of authority to intervene in cases of sexual harassment.
The act’s Section 3 states that no woman shall be subjected to sexual harassment at any workplace. It also provides circumstances which if present or connected with any act or behaviour of sexual harassment may amount to sexual harassment.

Committees for Complaints

Internal Complaints Committee

Is mandatory for every employer to form an Internal Complaints Committee or ICC
Considers the complaints made by aggrieved women
Members are nominated by the employer and one-half should be women
Should consist of a Presiding officer, not less than two members from amongst employees who are either committed to the cause or women or who have had experience in social work or have legal knowledge and one member from amongst non-governmental organizations or associations committed to the cause of women or a person familiar with the issues relating to sexual harassment




Local Complaints Committee (LCC)
To be formed for every district to consider complaints of sexual harassment from establishments where the ICC has not been formed because:

The employer has less than 10 workers or
 
The complaint is against the employer himself


Complaints Procedure under the Act

A woman subjected to sexual violence at workplace can give a written complaint to the ICC or LCC in case the complaint is against the employer himself.
The complaint has to be made within a period of three months from the date of incident and in case of a series of incidents, within a period of three months from the date of the last incident.
In case the aggrieved woman is unable give a written complaint, then the presiding officer of the ICC or any of its members will provide her with reasonable assistance. If she is unable to make the complaint to LCC, then assistance will be provided by the Chairperson or any member of the LCC.
If the aggrieved woman is physically incapable of making the compliant, then it may be filed inter alia by her relative or friend or her co-worker or an officer of the National Commission for Women or State Women's Commission or any person who has knowledge of the incident, with the written consent of the aggrieved woman.

The Indian society is slowly but surely waking up to the reality of Sexual harassment at workplace. Companies are realizing the importance of taking action against such incidents to not just protect the employee but also themselves. A sexual harassment incident can have devastating effects on the company’s reputation, profits and goodwill. Therefore, companies across the board are adopting ‘zero tolerance policy’ against such incidents. But it is extremely important for employees to know what to do if they find themselves in such a situation. 

Prevention Strategies

Immediate Action- Being silent or ducking the issue, does not help in such situations. If a person’s behavior is ‘unwelcome’ or his/her comment is making you uncomfortable, ask him/her to stop immediately. Ensure that you convey in strong words your discomfort.
Documentation of the incident- If an action or specific unwelcome behavior is occurring repeatedly, try and document it by- including the date, time and place of its occurrence, your response, witnesses’ names (if any), copies of documents (such as notes, emails, etc.).
Immediate report of the incident- Do not delay in reporting any incident of such nature.
Be AWARE- Ensure that you make yourself aware about the organization’s policies for such cases. Note down the names, email addresses of the people to whom you need to report such instances.
 


REMEMBER:
It is important to- Respect, Empower, Listen, Trust and SPEAK UP!!