NO HARASSER IS SAFE ANYMORE, ANYWHERE

There are many things to not like about 2017: the creeping rise of fundamentalism; massacres facilitated by lax gun control laws; and the sight of the world’s most powerful nation diminished by its tweeter-in-chief. But for women’s rights, it has been a positive year. The courage of women like Rose McGowan has led to a veritable rash of powerful men being named and shamed, knocked down from their positions, and, in some cases, being banished from their high paying professions.

Many people have been wondering, among them my friends, whether this outing of sexual harassers is going too far? Will there be a backlash, say, companies discriminating against hiring women? Will men now feel nervous about expressing interest in a woman? Will men stop paying compliments to their women friends?

These are valid worries, but for too long, women have put up with a permissive environment where few boundaries are respected. I recall a particular colleague in my office who thought nothing of using the filthiest language. This was dismissed by some as part of his natural ebullience but many of us found his behaviour deeply offensive. I have found that the problem with gender relations in India is that many men are not even aware that their actions or remarks are offensive.

Indeed, many Indian men think it is all right, at work, to comment on the colour of your clothes, your weight and on how you are not looking your best on some days. None of these constitute any physical threat but cross many red lines of conduct.

Tackling the menace of sexual harassment, at work and elsewhere, in India will be tough simply because Indian society is more accepting of various forms of harassment. The obvious one is the hideously named eve-teasing. Glorified by a powerful cinematic culture, the message is that no really means yes if you can wear the woman down. So we have the hero stalking a reluctant woman, at times becoming physically invasive, popping up at her home or on her way to work. Instead of reporting him to the police, the woman gives in to his entreaties. This glorifies a really dangerous trend of stalking, when saying no could lead to violence, even death.

Harassment in public spaces often leads to women dropping out of the workforce, something India can ill-afford. Then, there’s harassment at work. Women in the unorganised sector have no safety net at all and are vulnerable to all sorts of abuse. The prospect of the loss of income and jobs ensures a conspiracy of silence. The outpouring of revelations following the MeToo campaign was telling; it seemed that few women in India had escaped unwanted sexual attention either at home or in the workplace.

It would be Panglossian to imagine that the sort of fight back by women in the US can happen here in a hurry. But there are things that the government can do to insulate women from harassment. One would be to make sure that the sexual harassment committees which all organised sector workplaces are duty bound to have should be constituted and function in favour of women. Stalking should be made a non-bailable offence.

Above all, gender rights and equality should be taught in schools so that a generation of young men doesn’t grow up with notions of entitlement and superiority. Respect for women should feature very high in the school curricula. There may be a backlash but that does not mean that women and men should abandon or dilute the cause. It will be a long hard battle against sexual harassment but it has now been proved that no harasser is quite safe anymore, anywhere.