Sexual harassment at workplace: Complacence and ignorance paints rosy picture of Nagaland as ‘safe’

Kohima, July 26 (EMN): Although sexual harassment of women at workplace is not a new phenomenon, most people in Nagaland generally are believed to be complacent or that they choose to ignore what is happening right under the nose. Tagged as the safest state for women among Indian states, the reality paints a different picture though.

According to Gracy Aye, from the State Resource Centre for Women (SRCW), “Generally in Naga context where communication between male and female takes in a very friendly attitude, sometimes we don’t know where the boundary lies. We pretend to avoid it or ignore it.”

Women might be offended or be made uncomfortable by sexist remarks, vulgar jokes, or being touched inappropriately by men etc., Aye said that they were not aware about certain forms of sexual harassment.

The government of India has enacted the Protection of Women from Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, or simply the SH Act, of 2013 to ensure safe and secure workplace for women free from sexual harassment. The Act caters to women working in both the organised and the unorganised sector and provides a redress mechanism to resolve complaints.

The Act is unique in its broad coverage, which includes all women irrespective of their work status, in the organised or unorganised sector or the public and private sectors, regardless of hierarchy. Domestic workers are also included within the ambit of the Act.

The Act requires every employer to constitute an internal complaints committee (ICC) in offices or branches that has 10 or more employees. The district officer is required to constitute a local complaints committee (LCC) in each district, and if required, at the block level.

In Nagaland, the department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms is the nodal agency that implements the Act. The government issued a notification on Sept. 7, 2015 directing deputy commissioners to constitute LCC in their respective district and designate a nodal officer for each sub-division. They are to address complaints relating to sexual harassment of women in workplaces.

Another notification on Nov. 19, 2016 from the government informed that the complaint committee for the state level committee (SLC) had been reconstituted. A state nodal officer (SNO) was appointed on Dec. 18, 2017. The news was published on Jan. 18, 2018.

The SRCW has been empowered to conduct publicity exercises on the provisions of the SH Act. Available information said that it has identified some educational and training institutions and publicity programs are being conducted.

But save for the ‘constitution and reconstitution of committees,’ it would appear that the implementation of said Act in Nagaland is yet to be. According to a member of the ‘reconstituted’ SLC, the committee is yet to conduct its first meeting. The member said that she ‘doesn’t have much idea about how exactly the Act is to be implemented.’

Asked why the government and the committee were delaying implantation of an Act that came into force in 2013, she claimed ‘though we are yet to have a meeting, we are also safe because we don’t have such cases in our state.’

But there are cases to dispute such assertions: incidents of women being harassed by their bosses, employers, and even colleagues.

A highly placed official, narrating an incident that took place recently in one of the many offices at the directorate in Kohima said a female staff was groped and kissed by an officer. When the incident was brought to the notice of other officers, the matter was ended after the ‘perpetrator’ was warned. Reportedly, the argument was that ‘he is soon to retire and his reputation will go down the drain.’

Another woman who did not wish to be named told this correspondent that a male colleague taking advantage of ‘the dim light’ had kissed her while at work on evening. The incident happened so quick it left her ‘shocked and stunned’ to react in any way. When asked whether if the matter was reported, she said the thought didn’t strike her at that point of time; and that she let it go as they would be working together.

In contrast to the denial of incidents of sexual harassment of women at workplaces, the mission director of the SRCW, Daisy Mezhür asserted, “It would be a foolish thing to say that we don’t have sexual harassment in workplace in our state.”

“We want to project our society where the two genders are equal, but in reality it far from the truth. It’s just that we are not very vocal about it, and then the voices of the women are silenced because of the repercussions,” said Mezhür.

Citing some incidences, she observed that sometimes, it is the women themselves who do not want to complain as ‘any kind of harassment would have a reverse effect on the women’ and ‘there is already a biased opinion where the victim is made to bear the brunt.

There are hidden cases, said Mezhür, where women are going through this in silence lacking the courage to open their mouths because of job insecurity, their children and livelihood. “If she dares open her mouth, she will be in the street the next day.”

Lamenting the absence of a proper mechanism in place to address this issue, Mezhür said, “When we talk about sexual harassment, people tend to be complacent and not interested at all because we feel that this is not an issue.”

Expressing concern that a lot of working women are facing this problem and not able to express it, Mezhür remarked that “while we were talking about women welfare, women development and women empowerment, a lot many of the issues that should have gone along on the journey were left behind.” She has urged for concerted efforts to build a strong support system and “conscientise” both men and women on the issue. She added that it was time for women to stand up for their rights.

In the absence of any statistical data and complaints registered officially, it would not be right to conclude that sexual harassment of women doesn’t exist in the Naga society.

It is understood that various factors hinder women from coming forward to register complaints. There is an urgent need to put in place a sound and strong mechanism to which women can come forward without having to think twice if she is harassed at workplace.