| Abstract: | In India, women are entering the formal labour workforce in unprecedented numbers, yet as a proportion of the workforce, the percentage of women workers is declining Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012–17), Planning Commission, Government of India, Volume III – Social Sectors; Table 22.8 at page 133 notes that the labour force participation rate of women workers has declined both in the rural as well as in the urban areas from 2004–05 to 2009–10]. More than ever before, India as a country of contradictions presents a challenge to women in the work force. Deep-rooted ideologies of gender bias and discrimination remain the most pervasive and persistent form of inequality in the world today. The global economic crisis, characterised by increasing de-regularisation, privatisation and outsourcing of jobs down the supply chain is leading to a transformation of employment relationships. These changes resonate in Indian workplaces as well, creating a counter movement towards the invisibilisation of workers, more particularly women, what we call in India the movement of women workers from the formal sector to the informal sector. The rapidly changing work environment also reinforces the increasing importance of job security, social protection, decent work, financial regulation and fair taxation as the key to a more just world order enhancing the participation of women in the workforce. It is in this context that we must view the emerging challenges that working women face. In the light of these developments, there is, more than ever before, a pressing need for the rights of women to be respected, protected and fulfilled, particularly in the workplace. The right to work encompasses the right to work free from sexual harassment. This article examines the key provisions of the Sexual Harassment at The Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (2013 Act) and the Sexual Harassment at The Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules, 2013 (The Rules) The 2013 Act came into force on 9 December 2013, vide notification issued by the Central Government (S.O. 3606(e)). On the same date, the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules, 2013 have also been notified]. The article scrutinises some of the weaknesses and strengths of the said law and it is from this perspective that it approaches the rights of working women, attempting to include within this rubric the widest possible range of women. |
