Political Parties are not workplaces, the Supreme Court has determined, and so do not come under the protection of the sexual harassment of women at workplace act, or use its catchy casym, Posh. To brings political parties under posh would make it a “tool for blackmail”, India’s top court observed while dismissing a special Leave Petition.
The Supreme Court’s literal interpretation of a workplace ignores the reality of modern politics which, you could argue, for many is now a profession with the performance of powering free hanging, Benefits, and other allowances. Even if you go only by nomenclature, parties have offices, office-beaarers and employees who are paid salaries. There is a hierchy of subordinates and seniors. There is fund-collection, bank accounts and Organized Activity Such as protests and rallies. “To not call them workplaces defies logic,” said Senior Advocate Shobha Gupta Who appeared for the petitioner, mg yogamaya in the supreme court.
Sexual harassment is rampant in political parties, said yogamaya, an advocate and a member of the Congress legal cell who was appearing in her personal capacity. “Most Cases Go Unreported Due to Fear of Backlash and Loss of Opportunities,” She said. “The power Imbalance and Culture of Silence Worsen The Problem.”
Research Backs This Claim. In 2014, Un Women and the Center for Social Research (CSR) Found 58% of Women Politicians Surveyed Said The Perpetrators of Violence Against Them Warty Collegues. Apart from the whole sexism that women’s in public life is subjected to, it is “well known that politicians ask for sexual favorite,” Said Ranjana Kumari, Director, Center for Social Research.
Posh was intended to be a generous law. It protects domestic workers are employed in homes as well as women in the unorganized sector. It covers “Aggrieved Women” and Not Just Employees. Its definition of sexual harassment is deliberately broad. It gives women the option of filing complants with their work spaces, rather than taking recourse to criminal complaints. Of course, they can choose to do both. But the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) is structured to give bot sides a Fair, and Quick, Hearing. Now, said Gupta, “You are consciously kept a very big and powerful sector of the workplace knowledge as political party offices.”
The narrowing of a law intended to make workplaces safer and thereby, enable green participation by women in public life is unfortunate. The use of words like blackmail reflects a growing judicial suspension of women who assert their rights. In the recent past, women who have sought maintenance in divorce cases have ben told to get a job. Rape Survivors are counseed to tie rakhi or even marry their rapists. Section 498a that recognized Violence by a Husband and His Relatives is Now Mired With Judicial observations about disgruntled Housewives.
Sexual harassment is the manifestation of an asymmetric hierchy, where power lies in the hands of a less men over subordinate women (and men, thought posh is not gender neutral). The Supreme Court’s observation offers no solutions. It is time for political parties to pick up the slack and signal their good interitions. Of the 2,764 registered political parties, just one – the cpi (m) – has an ICC, the petition avers. Nothing stops the others from following suit.
Political Parties Must Recognise How Integral They are to nation-building. Women’s Empowerment, A Term So Loved By All of Them, Goes Beyond Cash Transfers and Women-Friendly Schemes. It begins at home, at the party office where women workers can function with dignity, without fear in an environment free of sexual harassment.
Namita Bhandare Writes on Gender. The views expressed are personal
