As per the POSH Act, every employer is required to prepare an annual report summarizing the details of number of cases received and resolved, number of cases pending for more than 90 days and reasons for this delay, actions taken by the employer and number awareness workshops conducted. However, it has been observed that the employers are not doing this either due to a lack of clarity on the procedure, or due to the fact that they do not want to show that all is not well at their workplace. A proper solution to this problem can be made by making compliance procedure clearer and stricter and by upping the maximum penalty so that the employers are more vigilant and meet compliance in a better manner.
Finally, we all need to understand that just like Rome was not built in a day, similarly any new enactment that is introduced takes several years to get properly and effectively implemented. At the legislative level, an Act can be amended in order to add more teeth to it, but ultimately, we as people need to create the right environment for it to nurture and bear fruits. Sensitization workshops to understand mindfulness and consent, political representation and systematic advancement of the thought leadership are the need of the hour.
What started with the Vishakha Judgement has now culminated in the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013. Global movements like # Me Too have also gone a long way in strengthening women and removing the stigma that comes with reporting cases of Sexual Harassment. However, a big setback for this movement was because it was led on social media, the #MeToo movement in India excluded women from the informal sector, where 95 percent of women are employed.
“The factory worker, the domestic worker, the construction worker, we have not even recognized the fact that they are sexually harassed and assaulted on a daily basis,” said Delhi-based lawyer Rebecca John. “But poverty leaves them no choice, they know whatever earning they make is far more important.” It has now come to such a state that sexual harassment in the workplace has become so normalized, women are simply expected to accept it.
Talking about their own experiences of sexual harassment however, has helped a lot of women in drawing public attention to survivors of sexual harassment and scrutiny to the implementation of the POSH Act.
One of the major contributions of the POSH Act has been in defining sexual harassment as a crime, as well as detailing its various forms – physical and emotional, implicit and explicit actions, and defining the entire spectrum of sexual harassment as ‘unwelcome’. The Act has addressed a vacuum that existed in the Indian Legal system for a long time. Another positive aspect of the Act in the Indian context is that compliance, such as constituting committees and ensuring publicity, has to now be demonstrated by business establishments. These make visible an all-pervasive behavior that Indian society has for too long pretended does not exist. Consequently, it has made it possible to break the silence on sexual harassment and opened conversations on sexual harassment at the workplace among both management and workers alike.
We can finally conclude by saying that just like the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, this law is also the first step in addressing an issue that has existed since ages and has now been given the importance that its always deserved.
