By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi, July 29, 2019: Domestic workers should be included in the Compensation Scheme for Survivors of Sexual Assault, says a national consultation on the implementation of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act.
“We call upon civil society, policymakers, private sector and citizens of India to create safe workplaces for all women domestic workers by demanding the inclusion of Domestic Workers under the purview of labor laws such as Minimum Wages Act, 1948 from the government,” states the final consultation paper of the recent consultation organized by Martha Farrell Foundation and PRIA (Participatory Research in Asia).
Nandita Bhatt, director at Martha Farrell Foundation, noted that domestic workers are often neglected by society and polity, be it under labor laws or the sexual harassment at workplace law. “The change begins at grassroots, and together, we need to alleviate sexual harassment from all workplaces, homes and offices alike,” she added.
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 is a legislative act in India that seeks to protect women from sexual harassment at their place of work. It was passed by the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Indian Parliament) on September 3, 2012.
The two day consultation advocated constitution of sub-committees of the Local Committees at block, taluka or tehsil level, appointment of representatives from the unorganized sector in these committees, impose penalties (financially, or otherwise) on the employer of the domestic worker if proven guilty, provision of legal aid for domestic workers, and budget allocation by the Central government to ensure effective implementation of the SHW Act, 2013.
The government has recently reconstituted the Group of Ministers on sexual harassment at workplace to examine and give recommendations for strengthening the legal and institutional frameworks to deal with and prevent sexual harassment at the workplace.
Bhatt says it is “imperative the government fulfill its mandate. Despite being enacted seven years back, SHW Act is still underserving the masses, especially domestic workers,” she regretted.
According to Martha Farrell Foundation’s 2018 survey, more than 29 percent of women domestic workers have been sexually harassed at work. Of those who did experience sexual harassment, 20 percent complained to police but received no outcome. Around 19 percent ignored the incident completely, while 15 percent spoke with only their friends about it. Only one person reported the incident to their employer.
The study also revealed that redressal mechanisms are missing in a majority of districts across the country.
The Martha Farrell Foundation was set up to carry forward Martha Farrell’s pioneering work on gender mainstreaming and adult education, with the overall goal of achieving gender equality in India and around the world.
Daughter of Iona and Noel Farrell, Martha was born in New Delhi into an Anglo-Indian family. She was renowned and respected around the world for her work on women’s rights, gender equality and adult education. She was among 14 people killed in a terrorist attack on a guest house in Kabul, Afghanistan on May 13, 2015. She had been leading a gender training workshop with the Aga Khan Foundation in Kabul at the time of the attack.
After studying English literature at Delhi University, and Master’s in social work at the Delhi School of Social Work, she began her career in 1981 as a literacy worker at Ankur, an NGO working for women’s literacy and empowerment in New Delhi. She then promoted adult education, practiced participatory learning methodology.
In 1991, she co-founded Creative Learning for Change, an NGO consisting of development professionals involved in research, training and documentation of learning materials for students, teachers and facilitators in non-formal settings. Martha joined PRIA in 1996, founded by her husband Rajesh Tandon.