In ‘safe’ Mumbai, women remain on edge

After the hockey scandal, women agree that sexual harassment is still prevalent in all fields.

Expert view
Silence has made men more powerful
Women have always been the symbol of dignity or pride of a family or a community. This was the reason why families and communities are protective towards women. But such a position in society has also made women quite vulnerable. If anyone wants to hurt another community or family, they first attack women.

Therefore, they become an easy target to be exploited. And, the main reason behind it is to demonstrate power or strength among others.  Ours is are a male dominated society that doesn’t have any problem exploiting women. They believe that if a woman is working, especially in late shifts then she is ‘easy’ and her family isn’t strong enough to support it. So, they can take advantage of it.
Silence has made men more powerful. Therefore, to get rid of the casting couch or sexual harassment at the workplace, women will have to break their silence.
—B Manjula, chairperson, Centre for Media & Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Laws alone cannot help women
Earlier, people associated the term casting couch with the entertainment industry but it is not true today. Women face sexual harassment in various forms daily at their workplace. But, what is most shocking about it is the fact that most of these women are silent victims. Laws will only help if women raise their voice or they’ll just have to compromise to get ahead in life or career.
—Minali Shah, image consultant

Have witnessed sexual harassment
I have been fortunate enough to work with serious professionals around me but being a part of media industry you tend to end up in many late night office parties. One of my colleagues was forced to dance with our senior who was drunk. She had no option but to leave the job in a few days because from the next day itself she faced harsh consequences at her workplace.
—Reedisha Varma, assistant manager

Stand up and report untoward incidents
Due to the vast reach of media, these days women have the courage to come forward. Till date many cases were  ignored but its good that today such cases are reported. Women need to maintain their dignity and never give in to any such demands or favours. If they learn to take a strong stand and intimidate men in some way then it would set an example for other timid women as well.
—Isha Gohil, student

Can’t stay quiet because of society
In cases of sexual harassment at workplaces, I think it’s the women who have to be blamed. Not because they tempt men to do so but because they keep quite. There are laws but how many of us make use of them. Most of them  either suffer quietly or quit. However, there are few who take advantage of such situations for personal gains. Society won’t change and one cannot keep mum because of the fear of ‘what will people say’.
—Nauheed Irani, coordinator