A Safe Workplace Every Women's Right

A Safe Workplace Every Women's Right

- Kanishk Agarwal

Gender equality is well stated in the Indian Constitution and the Fundamental Rights, amongst others. It makes certain equal opportunity and equal protection, ruling out discrimination on the grounds of sex, and thus facilitating equality of opportunity to all citizens in areas relating to employment.

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 has been initiated to support the Constitutional mandate and to guard women from sexual harassment at workplace. The legislation is chiefly based on the guiding principle laid down by the Supreme Court of India in a milestone judgment in 19971. It enforces several duties on employers to offer a safe working environment for women and set structure for conformity and revelation.

Employers Should Have A Complaints Committee In Place

All employers with a workplace of ten or more employees must form an Internal Complaints Committee by an order in writing. In case when the offices or administrative units are situated at ‘different places’ a committee must be formed at each unit or office. However, the legislation does not clarify whether ‘different places’ means different cities, or different states, or different areas in the same city. So employers may look at constituting at least one committee in each geographic location but area offices in the same city could have a common committee. 

The committee is in charge for carrying out an investigation into complaints of sexual harassment as per the legislation and prescribed rules. The employer’s primary duty is to conduct workshops and awareness programmes to sensitize employees, and jointly the employer and committee should take combined course of action to raise awareness.