BackWhy filing a complaint against sexual harassment is tough
Women hesitate to report sexual harassment/assault at work because they are made to feel responsible for what can happen
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Why do young women hesitate to report sexual harassment/assault at work, especially in smaller organizations? Mostly because they are made to feel responsible for what can happen not just to the future of institution/organization, but also to their colleagues and to the family of the person who has violated them. When these young girls in their first jobs, enjoying their first brush with freedom are told that this kind of a complaint will mean an end to lifestyle they are just beginning to develop, something they probably fought hard to get from their family and that it is possible that such an incident on their resume will render them un-hirable eventually, they have no choice but to think again and again if the price they will pay for such complaint is worth it.
This was a story narrated to me by a batchmate a couple of years ago. Two women, young just about 23, who were in their first job at the production house she was working in did not show up for work on three consecutive days after an outstation work trip. Once she got in touch with one of the women, she could sense something was wrong, terribly wrong, especially when they expressed a desire to meet her outside the office. At the meeting, they told her about “misconduct" they had experienced at the hands of two senior producers who had accompanied them to the outdoor location shoot. After the wrap up, there was a party for the unit and the women, like everyone else drank and danced with their colleagues including the producers. On the way back from the venue, the producers asked the girls to share their taxi and then asked one of the girls’ to sit in the front while the two men sandwiched the second girl between them. She was repeatedly touched and kissed by the two men and her pleas to be left alone were ignored. When her friend protested, she was told that “cool girls are not squeamish". The taxi driver kept silent throughout and when the girls reached the hotel, they managed to escape when they found a few colleagues loitering in the lobby.
Shocked at the revelations, my batchmate who was a contractual employee disclosed these details to the person she was reporting to on the project. Two questions thrown were her way: Did you tell anyone else? Have the women complained to you, or put this in writing? When she said no, she was asked to wait till he confronted the two men and investigated the issue. After a couple of days, the two women turned up at work and told my batchmate that they had accepted a transfer to another project within the company and that they were fine so long as they did not have to face the two men again and that the men had apologized for their misconduct after having had too much to drink. My batchmate was surprised and asked the girls why they were the not pursuing the matter especially when the top boss had been informed.
This is what they told her, the top boss had done: he called both the women for a meeting minus my batchmate and told them: Yes, we can complain about the “misconduct" of these two men, but do you know what will happen? The channel for which we are making the show will take this seriously and threaten to drop us, the production house, from their contract. If that happens, we will have to shut down this unit and all the 35 people who work here including the peon, the driver, the light boys who daily wage workers will have no place to go. Many of your colleagues, who are in their first jobs like you, will lose out on what can be a brilliant career opportunity. Do you want to be responsible for so many people losing their livelihood, a chance at a better career?
Then there are the two of you: after this complaint is filed your family will come to know. Will they ever allow you to work in a media house again? Will you be allowed to travel on work? Will you ever get the freedom that you have now to go and come as you please? What about the people around you: they will say that you had had a couple of drinks too many and that this was consensual. You were after all seen dancing with senior producers and you agreed to share a taxi with them. The men are saying they misunderstood your intentions and thought you wanted this as much as they did. It is your word against them.
Also, if this kind of blame comes on the senior producers what will happen to their family? Their wives and children will be punished for no fault of theirs. Do you want to damage so many lives in “pursuit of revenge". These men have been warned and have promised never to do this again. They will apologize publically. What will you gain if you make a formal complaint? You hardly have any experience and most companies will not hire you again, whereas these men have a body of work behind them. Maybe after some years, if you manage to survive in this profession, you will run into them again, then what will you do?
Nothing my batchmate said made a difference to the women’s decision about keeping quiet about this and even though she spoke to the project head again about all this being unfair, she was told that like the men she had enough experience to find a job elsewhere but a complaint like this would harm the reputation of the men, the organization and even the girls themselves, so it is best to keep quiet. The women agreed and told her that they loved their job and also believed that not all men in the business were like this. But they were not sure if their parents would agree and may ask them to quit the business altogether. Eventually my batchmate quit in protest and in an email told the rest of her team her reasons for without naming the women or the perpetrators. She says she left it up to the team to decide if they wanted to work in an organization that had no moral or ethical standards.
Should my batchmate have insisted that a complaint be filed or taken up the matter herself? Today, that is a hard question to answer. In those circumstances and with the two women adamant about not filing the complaint, she did what she could: refuse to work in a place which does not stand up for employees. But the managing editor of Tehelka has not such excuse. A lot has been said about what she could or should have done especially since she had adequate knowledge and means at her disposal to make the right choices.
But all those people out there questioning why the woman journalist in the Tehelka case did not complain immediately or why she continued to go about her work as usual after the assault or why did she accompany Tarun Tejpal in the lift in the first place, don’t stop to think for a moment what tremendous pressure this lady must have faced before she decided to write to her managing editor. She knew her complaint would put her in the spotlight; could possibly lead to Tehelka as a magazine facing a crisis and possible closure; that it would mean many people losing their jobs; that her best friend would be devastated knowing that her father could carry out such an act; that her parents who knew this man would feel betrayed and helpless; that this was her first job and maybe once people within the industry got to know no one would hire her; and finally it would be her word against his, a man described in his bail plea as “journalist, author and publisher of global repute." These are not easy emotions to deal with when you are already feeling violated.
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