Studies in India have found that 40-80% of women experience sexual harassment by their male colleagues or superiors at work. Sexual harassment was recognized by the Supreme Court of India as a human rights violation in the Vishakha judgment, 1997. The apex court issued guidelines for resolution and prevention of sexual harassment in the judgment. Advocates feel that there needs to be a law on sexual harassment, including an expansion of the limited coverage set forth in the Vishakha judgment.

The Protection of Women Against Sexual Harassment at the Workplace Bill is India’s first ever attempt to institute laws against sexual harassment in the workplace.WPC aims to get Sexual Harassment Bill passed in the Parliament and the action-plan involved two-step process; tracking the Bill and its status in the Ministry of Women and Child Development and sending letters to Members of Parliament seeking their support in getting the Bill passed. The Action plan also includes sensitizing the MPs on the issue by providing them with sufficient material on the bill and holding a regional/national level consultation of stakeholders including the government officials and representatives from different sectors.

A Regional Workshop for Eastern States was organized on this issue in Kolkata on 3-4 November 2006. There were 75 participants and event also saw representation of all sectors like trade unions, politicians, academicians, private companies, PSUs and Civil Society Organizations.

WPC is a part of the Core Committee formed for making suggestions in the draft sexual harassment Bill. In March’07 WPC has again sent a set of recommendations to the Concerned Ministry. They include:

• Expanding the applicability and scope of coverage from a few illustrations to a whole range of incidents of harassment. According to WPC, the Bill in its current form does not clearly state under what circumstances a woman can bring a charge of harassment. It describes a number of scenarios in which sexual harassment must not take place but fails to mention several others.
• Clarify whether an establishment that has violated a provision of this Bill can be forced to pay monetary damages to the suing party.
• Assigning personal liability to someone who victimizes a sexual harassment complainant for having brought a complaint.
• Including in the Bill sex-based discrimination so that it becomes gender-neutral.

Letters are sent to all the MPs, requesting them to support as and when the Bill is tabled in Parliament. With a view to educate them about the proposed Bill, a brief note highlighting the salient feature of the Bill are also enclosed with the letter. WPC has been in constant touch with the Ministry of Women and Child development and extensively lobbying to get the Bill tabled in the monsoon session this year.