Marginal increase in reporting of sexual harassment cases at top 100 firms

When a woman employed with a large multinational company in India reported a sexual harassment case, the accused was punished, but there were consequences for the victim too. She soon found herself the focus of office gossip and, on some occasions, was even made to feel guilty about the offender losing his job.

The data on sexual harassment cases reported at S&P BSE 100 companies, an index representing India’s largest firms, shows such instances may well be weighing heavy on women in Indian companies.

The Business Responsibility Reports from 300 annual filings since 2015-16 show fewer than 500 sexual harassment complaints for firms with comparable data, despite them employing over 414,000 women. This works out to around a dozen complaints per 10,000 women employees (0.12 per cent) for the 67 companies where the data is available for all three years.

The complaints seem low compared to studies which looked at the prevalence of sexual harassment in the workplace.  Nayreen Daruwalla, programme director, Prevention of Violence Against Women & Children for SNEHA Foundation, said companies rarely took action unless the case was severe.

This may cause victims to ignore the issue too. “Minor cases go unreported,” she said. 

Seventeen per cent of women in the workplace have faced the issue, according to a study entitled Sexual Harassment at Workplaces in India 2011-2012 from Oxfam India and the Social & Rural Research Institute. The figure was 26 per cent, according to an August 2010 survey entitled, The Reuters/Ipsos Poll on Assault and Harassment in the Workplace.

“Around 46.58 per cent of the women suffered mental agony at work as a result of such sexual harassment, while 25.17 per cent were subjected to unwanted physical contact (Sikri, 1999),” said a study based on a survey conducted by the National Commission for Women; cited in Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace authored by Rufus D and Beulah S, at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University in the October-December 2014 issue of the Indian Police Journal. 

There are some differences between public and private sector companies, in terms of the environment that women employees find themselves in and the choices they end up making when faced with such issues.

Experts working in the field of sexual harassment prevention said women are more likely to continue working with public sector companies after the resolution of a sexual harassment complaint. They also add it is because people are unwilling to let go of the security that a government job offers. But this may also be holding them back from reporting harassment cases.

In 2017-18, 13 cases were reported for every 10,000 women employed in the private sector, compared to five cases for those employed in public sector companies.

The low reporting across Corporate India comes despite working women being in a category with exposure to multiple avenues for help, and the fact that research shows educated women (such as those in the workforce) seem more likely to report sexual and physical violence.

The government-backed National Family Health Survey’s December 2017 report looked at women who have ever experienced physical or sexual violence. Those with 12 or more years of schooling were slightly more likely to have sought help, compared to those with no schooling or less than five years of schooling - though the proportion is still less than one out of every five cases.

Cases are also unreported because it seems to invite action against the complainant. In one case that the SNEHA Foundation worked on, the employee was required to get a mental health certificate to rejoin work, after she reported being depressed following the travails of pursuing a harassment complaint.
 

There may also be instances like the one seen by Anagha Sarpotdar, a consultant working towards prevention and redressal of sexual harassment cases. Sarpotdar’s examination of a case suggested the complainant had grounds for redressal. But the committee looking at it ruled that the complaint was false. The company terminated the employee’s services.

This is despite the situation improving in recent years.

“More awareness is being created... employers are more open to receiving complaints. However, I will not say this as a blanket observation for all companies. There still exist employers who are not complying with the law,” she said.

Rashi Dhir, a senior partner at DMD Advocates, said while there is a strong legal framework to deal with sexual harassment cases, there is a lack of clear guidelines on how one investigates these cases.

He also added more needs to be done to empower women to voice their grievances. “The level to which the victim has a voice and the fear of the shame and consequences of inappropriate behaviour in an organisation will bring about a change in thinking and behaviour of people towards women and will go a long way in sensitising people at well-governed organisations,” said Dhir.

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