Active Stocks
Tue Mar 19 2024 15:40:10
  1. Tata Consultancy Services share price
  2. 3,977.55 -4.03%
  1. Tata Steel share price
  2. 148.65 -0.64%
  1. Bharti Airtel share price
  2. 1,227.85 0.23%
  1. Power Grid Corporation Of India share price
  2. 259.15 -2.21%
  1. ITC share price
  2. 409.50 -1.89%
Business News/ News / Business Of Life/  After the landmark #MeToo case, will women finally speak up?
BackBack

After the landmark #MeToo case, will women finally speak up?

The verdict points to the fact that sexual harassment usually takes place behind closed doors and that a victim may not understand what is actually happening to them

Priya Ramani with her lawyer Rebecca John (in black blazer) on 17 February at Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court after being acquitted in a defamation case filed by M.J. AkbarPremium
Priya Ramani with her lawyer Rebecca John (in black blazer) on 17 February at Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court after being acquitted in a defamation case filed by M.J. Akbar

It would have been a routine workplace sexual harassment awareness session, with me droning on into the Zoom void about a law that is still a long distance from universal comprehension, leave alone compliance. As a short film played, I checked Twitter for news of the M.J. Akbar defamation case verdict. Priya Ramani had been acquitted.

It took 17 years for Rupan Deol Bajaj to get a verdict in her pre-Vishakha sexual harassment complaint against K.P.S. Gill. Bhanwari Devi is still waiting for justice from the Jaipur High Court. Internal committees often have inconclusive hearings and confidence levels are low. So many women have waited for the vindication and validation of this judgment. So really, what were most of us expecting yesterday afternoon? Not good news.

As I read tweets on 17 February, reporting the verdict reasoning, my heart and my eyes filled. The court’s recognition of the impact of sexual harassment on victims is important. We are still a society where we first question the complainant—Are you sure this happened? Are you sure you did not misunderstand? What did you do to provoke him? Most of us forget how hard and traumatic it is to narrate the harassment over and over.

“The victim may keep believing that she is at fault and victim may live with that shame for years or for decades. Most of the women who suffer abuse do not speak up about it or against it for simple reason ‘The Shame’ or the social stigma attached with the sexual­ harassment and abuse." In so many words, the court recognized that sexual abuse harms the dignity and self-confidence of a person. This being so, how can we expect that person to stand up confidently and file a complaint against someone far more powerful?

The court’s empathy for the circumstances of abuse is also a powerful statement of solidarity: “The Court takes consideration of the systematic abuse at the workplace due to lack of the mechanism to redress the grievance of sexual ­harassment at the time of the incident of sexual ­harassment... or their option to not lodge the complaint of sexual ­harassment due to the social stigma attached with the sexual­ harassment of women."

The verdict points to the fact that sexual harassment usually takes place behind closed doors and that a victim may not understand what is actually happening to them. This is a perceptive observation. Harassment is enabled by huge inequalities and the victim is likely to be younger, more junior, working in a more menial or marginal capacity or belonging to a marginalized or minority group. What’s more, when the harasser is a person in a position of trust or authority, the abuse comes as a shock. Society teaches women to second-guess themselves all the time.

The court’s reference to the mental trauma caused by and stigma attached to making sexual harassment allegations is framed as a call to action. It said: “The time has come for our society to understand the sexual abuse and sexual­ harassment and its implications on victims."

The court also underscored the right to speak out—whenever you are ready, on whichever platform is accessible. This, however, differs from the law as it stands. The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act of 2013 imposes a three-month time limit on the filing of a complaint. Will this judgment apply to the provisions of this law?

If it did, this would pose practical challenges for the internal committee. For instance, if either the complainant or the accused is no longer in the organization, how could they be made to appear for an enquiry? That’s just one of the logistical hurdles in the fact-finding process.

This was not a trial to ascertain whether sexual harassment had taken place. It was a defamation suit challenging the accused person’s right to make an allegation. One element of the complainant’s argument was that he was a reputed professional.

The court’s recognition that a person of social status can be a harasser and that the right to reputation is not more important than the right to dignity, is important. One reason women hesitate to complain is that we lump all “virtues" into one basket: he is a good manager, he cannot be a harasser; he is so famous, he cannot be a harasser (to someone like you); he is upper caste, he would not touch you; he sings so beautifully, he cannot be a harasser; he is brilliant, he cannot be a harasser. If he is so “virtuous", you must be the “problem".

Well, the court today affirmed what women know—anyone can be a harasser. In fact, the more famous, the more likely. Harassment is an exercise of entitlement, made with the confidence of impunity.

If the right to an equal and safe workplace is a part of the fundamental rights to life, liberty and equality, so is the right to speak out about harassment, which this judgment defines as an act of self-defence. Moreover, a woman has the right to speak out on any platform that she wishes; she does not have to do it only through legal procedures.

The verdict felt like a win for all the women who bravely spoke out about sexual harassment experiences and then paid a professional and legal price for it. It also felt like a win for those of us who have been working to create awareness about gender-based violence, including workplace sexual harassment, with the view that recognizing the problem helps you eliminate it. But that triumph is for the moment. Going forward, we will have to tackle the practical challenge of supporting victims as they speak out, legally, professionally and emotionally. We will have to honestly address questions raised about fairness and justice. We will continue to chip away at patriarchy and other systems of inequality that enable entitlement, harassment and impunity.

Swarna Rajagopalan is a political scientist, author, peace educator and founder of Prajnya, a non-profit that works in the area of gender equality. Write to us at businessoflife@livemint.com

Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!

Catch all the Business News, Market News, Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
More Less
Published: 19 Feb 2021, 05:21 AM IST
Next Story footLogo
Recommended For You
Switch to the Mint app for fast and personalized news - Get App