Shaming mustn’t replace justice
Naming predators is a desperate move by those with no options
Acertain level of desperation could have pushed many women to narrate their experiences to Raya Sarkar (a master’s student of law at the University of California) who put up a post (that has now gone viral on a social media site) documenting sexual harassment by prominent men in Indian academia. Ms. Sarkar, who has compiled the list based on first-person accounts, has put many giant reputations on the line. On the face of it, this may seem like a fitting way to name and shame harassers. But, this method of calling out sexual harassers is problematic and could well be used to settle scores. While no one doubts that it takes a lot for a woman in India to come out and name her harasser, this somewhat unorthodox method could actually, as many prominent women academics put it, delegitimise the long struggle by women against sexual harassment and create a backlash against them in the workplace. The creation of such a list definitely enters the grey area of ethics and legal legitimacy.
However, the fact that such extreme steps are being taken suggests that institutional mechanisms meant to protect against harassers are not working. The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 provides for all organised-sector institutions to have a committee of five to look into cases of harassment and resolve them. At least three members of this panel must be women. But this is where many organisations have been negligent. Even in cases in which such committees exist, studies find that the issue is rarely resolved in a manner satisfactory to the woman who is almost always in a subordinate position to the harasser.
Given the unequal power relations at most workplaces, the harasser is a man in a superior position, it often leads to resignation or termination of services of competent women who then have no recourse but to approach the police and law courts or the media. India has a serious paucity of women in the workforce. Unless conducive conditions exist for them to enter and do well in their jobs – and this includes protection from sexual harassment – this will not change.