Evolving Phenomenon of Sexual Harassment and its Forms- The word ‘Sexual Harassment’ of women is very much in focus nowadays. The conduct and behaviors it describes are centuries old but the word itself is said to have emerged in the mid-1970s in North America and consequently adopted in the U.K in the early 1980s.
If any person with an intention to insult the modesty of a woman uses any word or picture or gesture or sound, then he is said to have committed an offense of sexual harassment of the woman, punishable with imprisonment up to one year.4 Sexual harassment includes all forms of conduct designed to vex, annoy, or bother a person by means that falls short of serious injury or threat thereof.
Sexual harassment, an insidious form of violence against women, is common to all cultures. The stories are strikingly similar from country to country; only the names and the places change. Women in workplaces around the world are routinely subjected to hostile and demeaning work conditions and are forced to endure discrimination, humiliation, sexual assault, sexual blackmail, and in the most extreme cases, rape.
Sexual harassment may take diverse and varied forms. It is not limited to demands for sexual favors made under threats of adverse job consequences should the recipient refuse to comply with such demands. Victims of sexual harassment need not establish that they were not hired, were denied a promotion, or dismissed from service as a result of their refusal to participate in sexual activity.
It is also for the recipient to decide what conduct is acceptable or offensive to her, and from whom.
Women work in offices serve as teachers, perform operations as surgeons, treat patients as doctors, defend the nation as a member of armed forces, adjudicate upon cases as judicial officers, and so on. But despite all this, they have to face sexual harassment and exploitation at their workplace. We are to go a long way before we can attain perfect equality between men and women in the male-dominated society of traditional India.
As India’s economy continues to grow, helping millions of people live better and healthier lives, one could be forgiven for thinking that the old problems that affected our parents and grandparents’ generations are being left behind. You would expect to find this to be especially true in the modern and dynamic workplaces of call centers and IT parks that are employing millions and helping drive Indian economic growth. Unfortunately, while we have new industries and economic progress, old problems have yet to be left behind.
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