India is a country with vast opinions about women working a job. This is due to the orthodox mind set of the people here. In the olden days, it was forbidden for a woman to go outside her house and pursue a job for herself. This was the case in almost 90% household.

Years passed by, and as the westernisation increased, people became more open to the idea of women working jobs. But that also came with a lot of challenges, which mainly are: Gender discrimination, violence against women, unequal payment of the male and female employees. Female foeticide and infanticide, particularly in rural areas remain a significant concern.

The patriarchal society is also to blame for an issue like this to exist. Time memorial it is passed down that the men hold the superior power over women, and that women are supposed to adhere to the needs of the men around them. Women empowerment is being in question, since, time immemorial. It was always impossible for women to make a name of their own and when they did other problems took birth one of them being sexual harassment at workplace.

In 1992, Bhanwari Devi, a government social worker in Rajasthan, was gang raped in front of her husband by higher caste neighbours, angered by her efforts to stop a child marriage in their family and they were punished for only as much as 9 months' imprisonment. After this case, her employee denied responsibility because the attack happened in her own house. Activists filed a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court. This case paved way for the Vishaka Guidelines, which protects women at workplace. This was the foundation for the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013.

Other laws of this country provides protection for women, but its usage is still debatable.

Article 14: Right To Equality, Right To Work (equal remuneration act,1976, ensures equal pay)

Right Against Sexual Harassment of women at workplace 2013.

Sexual Harassment at workplace is an increasing issue. Out of 3, at least 1 woman is sexually harassed at workplace.

Section 354A of the Indian Penal Code, mentions the following act as sexual harassment:

• Physical Contacts and Advances
• Sexually Coloured Remarks
• A Demand or request for sexual favours
• Showing pornography against will or any other unwelcome physical, verbal, or nonverbal conduct of a sexual nature.

The evolution of #METOO MOVEMENT. The METOO movement was first started by Tarana Burke in 2017 in Hollywood. And, the same started to surge across India when women from different places came together to share their experiences and voice out about their incidents of harassment.

In 2017, Raya Sarkar, an Indian law student compiled a list of 70 alleged sexual harassers in academia across India. This was circulated on social media and became the talk of town.

The METOO movement took full force in the year 2018.

Nana Pathekar, a famous actor was accused of sexual harassment on the set of a film by Tanushree Dutta. Many more incidents were brought to light by many other women in the entertainment industry.

The METOO movement helped a lot of women to come out and voice out their personal experiences if sexual harassment. The social media has been of a great help when it came to raising awareness about this and helped in the widespread momentum and active participation of women across the world.

The act (of sexual harassment) is sometimes disguised as an act of favour or form of kindness, which tends to confuse the woman and they hold back because of this and don't voice out for their rights. This movement had brought a clear idea as to what exactly harassment is and how to seek justice for it.

The METOO MOVEMENT remains to be not inclusive of those in the rural areas. The only prominent case that has been highlighted from the rural area is the Vishaka v Rajasthan case, as specified above. People in rural areas are foreign to the ideologies of the urban cities and hence they are still living with the same ideology as olden times. Women in the rural areas are married off at a very early age and are not allowed to speak for themselves. They are usually discriminated by the men of the household and treated badly.

And the other cases include where women do get to have job but the act of harassment is a permanent factor. Women report that, they are asked for sexual favours in return to keep their jobs. Some give up but for the others whose livelihood depends on such jobs, they have no other option but to grant those favours.

The government needs to work on the fact that there are still women who would rather keep their jobs by facing sexual harassment rather than reach police stations. This clearly shows the inefficiency of the Indian judiciary to provide justice and protection for these women.

This is also because of the difference of privilege between the urban and rural people. The lack of education is also an important factor for this cause. It should be the responsibility of the privileged to reach out the rural area for assistance and help regarding matters like this. As said famously prevention is better than cure, few steps should be taken by the companies beforehand to prevent something like this to happen. A woman should not be scared to leave her house and do a job for herself and various ways like creating awareness among people etc. might also help.

Equality doesn't only mean equality for a particular section of the society, equality should apply to every sector including the rural and urban areas. Further to decrease the amount of these instances rigorous punishments should be given to the offenders which may include termination of their jobs, temporary suspicion of job for a few months, etc. the fear of punishment has to be instilled so that the country becomes a safer place for the women to work and contribute towards the betterment of the country along with the accomplishment of their dreams.

Award Winning Article Is Written By: Ms.Sudarshana Arunkumar

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