Sexual harassment against women in work place - An Enigma

Much has been spoken about gender inequality in the society and also about exploitation of women being a weaker section. Among many types of exploitation against women sexual exploitation has been the most heinous and our Hon'ble Supreme Court has stated “Each incident of sexual harassment at the place of work results in violation of the fundamental right to gender equality and the right to life and liberty - the two most precious fundamental rights”. This is also a violation of Human Right and Dignity of women who are treated as one of the vulnerable section in the society. Due to globalisation and modernisation, the economic development all round the world has increased the demand for labour force which has in turn paved way for women to emerge as one of the important sources of labour force. Looking at the positive side women are working on par with men and in some issues excelling in their own field. But the negative effect of this has exposed women to exploitation which nature has created giving the psychological advantage to men seeming to be more powerful physically than women.

The paper takes up this issue in both theoretical and well as practical way. The paper begins with defining the concept of sexual harassment and then looks into the various theories explaining the reasons for the occurrence of these sex related issues. Then the paper looks at various international conventions, legislations and most importantly the after effects of Vishaka case. The paper makes a mention of the reasons for women not reporting about the exploitation about the harassment and its psychological effects.