Me Too: At Least 1 Workplace harassment complaint in every 15 days in Karnataka

BENGALURU:The state may have done a double take over the past week as #Metoo movement rose up a storm in the Kannada film industry, but official data show there is on average of at least one official complaint of workplace sexual harassment in Karnataka in every 2 weeks.

Karnataka recorded 100 complaints between January 2014 and February 2018, with the highest number (38) in 2017, second only to Tamil Nadu (105) in the same period. Telangana (48) was third, followed by Andhra Pradesh (31), Kerala (25) and Puducherry (six) on a list of southern states and Union territories.

The high number of cases in Karnataka and TamilNadu,areindicative of better workplace systems, which encourage women to report any harassment.While formal sectors like IT have standardised systems to deal with such cases, in less-organised sectors, where there is no structure to deal with the issue, scores of women battle the problem alone every day. Only a little of cases make it to the Karnataka State Commission for Women (KSCW), only few victims report the instances to the officials in other states — experts estimate that more than twice as many cases go unreported owing to various kind of factors counting insensitive officials — placing in context the enormity of the problem and the challenge involved setting up an effective redressal mechanism. Garments workers make up one vulnerable group.

The Karnataka State Commission for Women (KSCW) in 2017 ensured that action was taken against the supervisor of a garments firm in west Bengaluru; 11 other women reached out soon after, complaining that the man had harassed them over several months.“Sexual harassment at the workplace is a growing concern, especially in less organised sectors,” said Karnataka State Commission for Women (KSCW)