Antony Alex, the Founder & CEO of Rainmaker, moderated the webinar with expert panellists from diverse fields, including legal, ethics & compliance and PoSH, making it a hugely informative & engaging session. The webinar, peppered with poll questions, kept the over 100 viewers hooked for an hour and a half, ending with a Q&A.

To begin with, Antony gave an overview of the story of Jeyasre Kathiravel. She was a young garment worker who joined Natchi Apparels, a supplier to H&M, in 2018. She worked demanding shifts to support her education & her large family. Jeyasre was a diligent employee who often raised concerns about the quality of the products. On many occasions, this whistleblowing caused a humiliating situation for her supervisor, Thangadurai. Jeyasre repeatedly brought up Sexual Harassment by him, but these went unheeded. On 5th Jan 2021, her dead body was found, allegedly raped and murdered by her supervisor, who later confessed to the crime. 

Here is a concise summary of the webinar, followed by Q&A:

1. Does applying PoSH Awareness & Compliance need a dedicated push vis-a-vis blue-collar workers?

The quality data and extensive research all point to the fact that the situation of blue-collar workers is deplorable. One of the leading reasons blue-collar workers are mute about their harassment, apart from the fear of retaliation, is that they are unaware of the available remedies. Ms Rivya Singh emphasizes this fact by sharing a story where after conducting a PoSH training with blue-collar workers, one of the attendees came up to her and exclaimed, "mujhey pata nahi tha ki mai batameezi kay liye bhi kahin ja sakti hu." (I had no idea that I could report about Sexual Harassment somewhere). This example is a stark reminder of how poor the penetration of PoSH awareness and remedies has been in the grass root section of society. The panellists agree that employers & corporates must ramp up awareness campaigns, PoSH policies framed in regional languages and constant training with a particular focus on blue-collar workers.

2. What are the barriers, and how can we overcome them

India has a strong culture of taboos related to any discussions on sex. The same principles spill over when a woman is sexually exploited. Her family forces her to remain quiet, fearing disgracing her family's reputation if such news is made public. 

The blue-collar workforce often finds itself at this crossroads of dilemma. An example shared by Mr Vimal Sota explains how a woman went to the Internal Committee (IC) to report an incident of Sexual Harassment but requested not to be named in the ensuing documents. Ms Rivya Singh shares a practical challenge where corporate office IC members are disconnected from the ground/field workers. Hence, these workers choose to stay mute for fear of retaliation, trust issues, and inhibition of explaining such sensitive matters to a stranger. 

The solutions in sight are extensive training in regional languages so that events, as mentioned in the above example, don't occur in the first place. Further, tweaking the laws to be more inclusive of the various types and backgrounds a complainant can come from is needed. Employers must also include a local IC member (from amongst the workers) with whom ground workers can establish better communication. Having women in senior positions, e.g. supervisors, managers etc., is also advised.

3. What are the forms of Sexual Harassment among blue-collar workers? Is it the same as among white-collar

The panellists all agree Sexual Harassment does not discriminate between a white-collar or a blue-collar worker. It is the same for all. Ms Bela Chawla, in her experience over the years, has always seen either quid pro quo or some form of hostile work environment that the offender creates, among other obstacles for the victim, irrespective of her sector and section of work. Antony Alex reiterates Ms Rivya Singh's point that a small slice of the difference between white and blue-collar Sexual Harassment can be traced to caste and culture. Caste is a major social hierarchical factor in rural India and is known to be exploited by the privileged group, leading to Sexual Harassment of women workers.   

4. a) Whose IC's responsibility is to provide redressal - The principal employer or the contractor/agent?   

4. b) Leadership of organizations vs appropriate governments - who should be doing what

Ms Bela Chawla brings forth an essential concept of the "Top-down" approach. She explains it has to start with a complete culture change where employers must own up to their responsibilities of catering for a safe and ethical workplace for their employees. They should also showcase a model behaviour expected in a workplace irrespective of their designation in the organization. Ms Rivya Singh and Mr Vimal Sota share their views and believe the government has to be more proactive and take stringent actions against violators. Justice must not only be done but must also be seen to be done.

Author’s Note: This summary is kept concise for brevity, but the webinar is a wealth of knowledge, information and advice. We urge the readers to view the webinar in its entirety here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v8tNJOQR_Q

Webinar Q & A

Question 1: Could you share suggestions on how to stop/reduce gossip at the workplace linking people in a relationship, as gossip usually does not have evidence or witness?

Answer: Gossip and rumours can be controlled by continuous awareness drives, messaging, and training through scenario-based videos that have a storyline so that employees can understand what type of behaviour is unacceptable. These methods send the message effectively and subtly without name-calling or shaming any employee.

Question 2: How can blue-collar employees be trained as they don't have access to technology?

Answer: A few ways to train blue-collar employees in the absence of technology are:

a) In-person training where the concerned officials go down to the target audience and interact with them to spread awareness. This outreach will not only educate the employees about the organization's policies but also build a connection of trust between the employees and the organization.

b) Make interesting skits in widely spoken vernacular languages in the organization so that employees can easily understand the rules and know when to connect with the Internal Committee to seek redressal.

c) Put up posters in vernacular languages of the PoSH law and the organization's rules, along with ways to seek redressal to grievances.

Author: Sagnik Mukherjee Editor: Sumali Nagarajan