While the numbers of cases of harassment has increased over time, only a few such cases get reported officially.
More and more women are getting into STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths — courses in India, resulting in them landing jobs in corporate houses, especially in the IT sector. Hence, the proportion of women in leading corporate firms has increased considerably over time. Yet, the attrition rate — the percentage of employees who leave an organisation — is also, in general, higher among women than men. Women leave organisations for many reasons, including societal pressure after marriage, pregnancy, and post-pregnancy work-life balance, reasons that rarely apply to men.
Adding to the list, workplace harassment — verbal, sexual or otherwise — may also play a role in such exits. If the number of cases reported under the PoSH Act is anything to go by, a look at just the figures from the top four IT firms shows that instances are rising again after a brief pause during the pandemic. The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (PoSH Act) was introduced over a decade ago to protect women against workplace sexual harassment.
In Tata Consultancy Services, 110 cases were filed under the PoSH Act in FY24, about eight times more than what it was ten years back. In Infosys, 98 cases were filed in FY24, 3.3 times more compared with FY14. In Wipro, 141 cases were filed in FY23, peaking post the pandemic. In HCL, 55 cases were filed in FY23, while between FY18 and FY22, there were only 58 such cases.
Chart 1 | The chart shows the number of PoSH complaints filed in select IT companies and the number of complaints upheld. These companies were chosen as a representative sample and also because PoSH data is properly maintained in big organisations.
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While the numbers have increased over time, only a few such cases get reported officially. To understand why women, in general, especially those who are married, avoid raising such complaints, it is important to study the environment around them.
Chart 2 | The chart shows the share of men who think that wives should have an equal or greater say than her husband in various decisions.
For instance, only 57% of men in India think that wives should have an equal or greater say in these decisions — making household purchases, visits to their family/relatives, how to spend the money they earn and how many children to have (Chart 2). Only 42% of women in India are allowed to go alone to specific places such as the market, health facilities and places outside the community/village (Chart 3). In urban India, the share is higher at 48.6%, compared with 39.2% in rural areas. Close to 23% of men agree that a husband is justified in beating his wife if he suspects that she is “unfaithful”. About 26% of women say their husbands are jealous if they talk to other men.
Chart 3 | The chart shows the share of women allowed to go out alone to specific places.
Taking cues from the above data, it is important to question what share of women — who come to work amid a lack of freedom to travel and lack the power to make major decisions on their own — will accuse a man of sexually harassing them at their job, especially those with a jealous and suspicious husband willing to punish them. In this context, the increase in the numbers should be seen as a positive development as women now have a better avenue, awareness and courage to report, but the figures should be taken with a pinch of salt as they hide more than what they reveal.
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Also, in May last year, the Supreme Court flagged lapses in the way the PoSH Act was implemented. It said many firms have not even constituted Internal Complaints Committees and in places which have one, members were inadequate or lacked representatives from outside the company.
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Published - June 20, 2024 05:30 pm IST
