Badminton ace P.V. Sindhu said Indians rarely walk their talk in terms of respecting women, and said that the recent ‘Me Too’ movement increased awareness on sexual harassment at workplace.
Addressing a symposium on sexual harassment at the workplace titled ‘SH(Out) – Sexual Harassment Out: We are Listening’ organised by She Teams of Hyderabad Police in association with Soroptimist International Hyderabad here on Friday, Ms. Sindhu talked on the contrast between India and foreign countries in this respect.
“When I was travelling abroad, I noticed that people have a lot of respect for women and their privacy, and I felt happy about it. But in India, people only say that women should be respected, but the same is not practised,” she said. The ‘Me Too’ movement has ushered in a lot of awareness about sexual harassment, and has educated both men and women of their responsibility towards society, she said. “Women should be strong and believe in themselves. They should come out and speak about the harassment that they face,” Ms. Sindhu said.
City Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar, who was the chief guest at the event, said Hyderabad was named the safest city for women in India by a survey for the third time in a row.
He educated the human resource professionals, who attended the event, about four components of crime – intention, preparation, attempt and commission – which need to be kept in mind when dealing with cases of sexual harassment.
There are many instances where HR department considers the problem solved once the person accused of harassment leaves the organisation, without a thought about the possibility of another company hiring him not knowing his history.
The issue of sexual harassment should be collectively fought and not in an isolated way, Mr. Anjani Kumar said.
“Cultural change too is necessary, but it should start from home. Owing to the installation of surveillance cameras, crimes against women in public places have come down,” he said. Additional Commissioner of Police (Crimes & SIT) Shikha Goel, who is also in-charge of She Teams and Bharosa Centres in the city, said 40% of the IT firms and 50% of the automobile industries are yet to form the internal complaints’ committee. Treating women with respect at workplaces would increase their economic participation. Very few women who face harassment at workplaces come out to report, she noted.
