In an attempt to give more teeth to India’s first ever proposed legislation on sexual harassment in the workplace, women’s groups have suggested improvements that will help widen the Bill’s ambit.
Group of around 400 women’s organisations in India has called for significant changes to the draft Bill on sexual harassment at the workplace that is expected to be tabled in the monsoon session of Parliament.
The changes suggested by Women Power Connect (WPC), a conglomerate of women’s groups, aim to make the legislation gender-neutral, bring sex-based discrimination under its ambit and expand the definition of sexual harassment to include, among other things, the long-term impact of a single incident of humiliating sexual commentary.
The Protection of Women Against Sexual Harassment at the Workplace Bill 2007, India’s first ever attempt to institute laws against sexual harassment in the workplace, was put up on the website of the Women and Child Development Ministry for public comment and discussion by March 31, 2007.
WPC has listed a number of changes to the draft. They include:
Expanding the applicability and scope of coverage from a few illustrations to a whole range of incidents of harassment. According to WPC, the Bill in its current form does not clearly state under what circumstances a woman can bring a charge of harassment. It describes a number of scenarios in which sexual harassment must not take place but fails to mention several others. “The Bill should be amended to clarify that the currently described scenarios are illustrations only so that they do not become restrictive on the applicability of the Bill,” WPC said in a statement.
Clarify whether an establishment that has violated a provision of this Bill can be forced to pay monetary damages to the suing party.
Assigning personal liability to someone who victimises a sexual harassment complainant for having brought a complaint.
Including in the Bill sex-based discrimination so that it becomes gender-neutral. The current Bill only protects women against harassment by men... “as women can also sexually harass men, and same-sex harassment is also possible... it would be better to make the legislation gender-neutral,” says WPC President Ranjana Kumari.
The groups also said there is a need to include sex-based discrimination that is not sexual in nature under the ambit of the Bill.
“Since the draft Bill is incomplete and several definitions and objectives in it are likely to be misinterpreted in the future, we have submitted a list of recommendations to the concerned ministries,” says Kumari.
In the absence of a law to tackle sexual harassment of women in the workplace, the Vishaka Guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court to deal with the problem have been implemented.
Source: www.rediff.com
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