How Companies Are Making Safer Workplace For Women?

As the entire country reels under the second wave of the #MeToo revelations, and many high-profile men in the media and advertising industry face allegations of gross sexual misconduct, we seek to find out what companies are doing to address the issue and make women feel safer.

- Samarpita Banerjee & Neeta Nair

Will companies fight for survivors?

What is the industry doing to make the workplace safer?

The past week has been a grim one, in spite of the festive mood in the air. Allegations of grave sexual misconduct ranging from sexist remarks, bodyshaming to physical and sexual assaults – the second wave of the #MeToo movement born in the United States last year - against as many as six senior advertising industry executives and ad agency founders, besides well-known actors, film-makers and editors, made headlines and created an upheaval on social media. With more and more such revelations cropping up, shocking the entire industry, we set out to find out just how companies are addressing the issue, raising questions around safety at the workplace, action against the accused and support for survivors.

THE SECOND WAVE OF #METOO ERUPTS IN INDIA

In October 2017, The New York Times and The New Yorker came out with detailed investigative reports that spoke about hundreds of allegations of sexual and physical assault, rape and harassment against one of the most powerful names in Hollywood, producer Harvey Weinstein. What followed was the #MeToo campaign where women from across the world took to social media and shared their experiences, about the various degrees of sexual harassment they had faced.