Vishaka panels: City women employees ask what they are

Bangalore: Many women employees in the city are unaware of committees at their workplaces which deal with sexual harassment. This is true even with women working in top notch companies. Even those who know of redressal systems in place, they shy away from registering a complaint, fearing that their voice will be suppressed by the management.

These are some of the shocking findings by Deccan Chronicle when a reality check of workplaces was conducted, in the wake of Teh­elka sex scam. An investigation was carried out on the existence of committees which deal with cases of sexual harassment, its sensitisation and

activ­ism.

A female employee of a private sector bank on cond­ition of anonymity said, “The committee at our organisation exists only for namesake. When a female employee tries to lodge a complaint, the very next day the management calls her and asks her to withdraw it, as this would damage her and the company’s reputation. Wom­en’s organisations try to persuade us not to file a complaint, as this would mean an unnecessary problem.”

However, a spokesperson from Vimochana, a city-based women’s organisation said “Many companies do not follow the Sexual Har­as­sment Act which was recently pas­sed. Every organisation should have a detailed procedure for the enforcement of a strong internal complaint committee.”

K. M. Janaki, Secretary, Karnataka State Comm­ission for Women, said, “We have committees at the State and district levels that handle cases of sexual assualt.”