Workplace safety still an issue: survey

Key Facts

• The survey by the Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI), and Gender at Work.
• The online survey was conducted to assess whether and how effectively media houses in India responded to the issue of sexual harassment at the workplace.
• The survey had 456 participants, including journalists, journalism educators, trainers, and researchers. Most respondents were based in metropolitan centers such as Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Pune.
• The survey findings were compiled in the report titled ‘creating safe workplaces: prevention and redressal of sexual harassment in media houses in India’.

Concerns:

• The report notes that around 36% of the respondents have experienced sexual harassment at the workplace. Of the respondents who experienced such harassment at work, 53% did not report it for lack of awareness of the existing mechanism or fear of reprisal.
• Worryingly, over 70% of respondents who had approached the Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) to report sexual harassment at the workplace were not completely satisfied with the outcome.
• A higher level of sexual harassment was reported from organizations that did not have a mechanism to deal with sexual harassment. 47% was the reported number. This points towards the fact that ICC though has its flaws, has a deterring effect.
• The report also found that a large percentage of respondents had never attended a training workshop on sexual harassment, as required by The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, of 2013.

Conclusion:

• The results of the survey underscore the need to undertake steps to increase awareness among the employees and address the lacunae in the existing framework to bring about a change in the work culture in workplaces.

Source: The Hindu