Sensitization programme on Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace held

Imphal: A sensitization programme on “Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (prevention, prohibition and redressal) Act, 2013 was held at the auditorium of Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR), NityaipatChuthek, Imphal, on Thursday.

The programme was organized by Manipur State Commission for Women (MSCW) in association with DIPR.

Chairperson Ms. Thumlip TiningphamMonsang said that the programme was organisedmainly to sensitize the women on various issues related to workplace harassmentand its prevention, prohibition and redressal.

Women face various kinds of harassment at workplace, despite occupying 50 percent of the workforce in general. To avoid such cases of harassment, Act and Rules are enacted to empower women by the government, she added.

She said in workplace or institutions where women employees are required to discharge their duties beyond official working hours, such as DIPR, it is very important to have the knowledge of the Act.

Even though the provision of women empowerment has been given, it is meaningless until and unless we apply it in in our daily lives, she added.

Ngangom Uttam Singh, MCS, director, IPR and MAHUD, said a conducive environment is important to bring substantive equality between male and female. Gender equality starts from family and we should educate our children on the importance of doing household chores irrespective of gender.

Every employer is required to constitute an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) at each workplace with 10(ten) or more employees. ICC should have a minimum of 4 (four) members, with at least half of them being women. The ICC will also cover issues of the harassment cases faced by Transgender as well. Similarly, district officers are required to constitute a LCC at the district level, he added.

He also said that the state has already implemented Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) number 112 wherein, all emergency numbers like 100 for police, 101 for fire, 102 for ambulance, 181 for Women Helpline and 1098 for Child Helpline, 14567 for Senior Citizen have been integrated. The ERSS number 112 is toll free and a person can dial ‘112’ despite having no mobile talk time balance.

During the interaction session, Th. Rajkishore Singh, advocate, Legal Advisor of MSWC speaking as the resource person highlighted the importance of Act. Sexual harassment of women at work place violates a woman’s fundamental rights to equality (Article 14 and 15), dignity and a safe environment (Article 21) under the Indian Constitution, he said.