What is the POSH Act? “Identification of tormentor by women at workplace does not come easily even today”. Examine the statement with substantive examples from India. (UPSC CSE Mains 2019 - Sociology, Paper 2)
PoSH Act, 2013
- The POSH Act is a legislation enacted by the Government of India in 2013to address the issue ofsexual harassment faced by women in the workplace.
- The Act aims to create a safe and conducive work environment for women and provide protection against sexual harassment.
- The PoSH Act defines sexual harassment to include unwelcome acts such as physical contact and sexual advances, a demand or request for sexual favours, making sexually coloured remarks, showing pornography,and any other unwelcome physical, verbal, or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature.
- The Supreme Court in a landmark judgment in the Vishakha and others v State of Rajasthan 1997 case gave ‘Vishakha guidelines’.
- These guidelines formed the basis forthe Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.
- The SC also drew its strengthfrom several provisions of the Constitution including Article 15 (against discrimination on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, and place of birth), also drawing from relevant International Conventions and norms such as the General Recommendations of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which India ratified in 1993.
- It includes "any one or more of the following "unwelcome acts or behaviour" committed directly or by implication: Physical contact and advances, Sexually coloured remarks, Showing pornography, A demand or request for sexual favours, Any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature.
- While the law covers several categories of workers, in practice both the nature of sexual harassment and the access to remedies and justice differs depending on the often intertwined position of the woman worker, her work space, the establishment, her status within it, her wages/salary, and her social support system.
- For women from the working class, registering a complaint is perceived to be a risk and often actually is. Many women can't afford to take the risk, aggravated by power imbalance due to low pay, precarious employment due to contractual or non-formal employment status, being the sole family breadwinner, having low family support, and lack of worker organisations and unions.
- For Example, in many sectors, women are not in managerial positions. In such cases the women who complain are seen as adversaries who disturb business operations, including the pace of production, and are disliked by the management because they have questioned the line of authority.
- In most cases, factory workers find that resigning from one organisation and joining another is their most feasible option, as their ability to take risks is low. Migrant workers are even more vulnerable, as they find these options difficult to exercise.
- Thus, to enable working women to benefit from the law, it is important first to recognise the impediments to their agency in engaging with grievance mechanisms. Support from co-workers and senior management is key to build confidence among workers to register complaints. Senior management can play a decisive role by promoting a conducive atmosphere.
- Top management should set standards for supervisors on factory floors and in middle management. They should be at the forefront of efforts to stop practices of gender-based violence and to demonstrate zero tolerance for sexual harassment.
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