The #MeToo movement in India was long overdue, feels National Commission for Women (NCW) Chairperson Rekha Sharma, who says that more and more women opening up about their experiences signifies that an enabling environment has been created today where women can speak about the harassment they faced without the fear of being stigmatised.
However, she insists that the reluctance of the victims to approach the NCW is by no means a reflection on the commission. In an interview to Sumi Sukanya Dutta, Sharma exhorts the victims to come to the NCW and take their complaints to a logical end.
A campaign to call out harassers at workplace under #MeToo has finally picked up in India. What do you think about the whole thing?
It was long overdue and I think it happened late in India because internationally the movement started over a year ago. Although people should make a fuss then and there (in case of sexual harassment at workplace), but even if the victims are sharing experiences now, it is good that somebody started it and many followed.
Sometimes, people, in this case women, need a kind of trigger to join a movement because they want to be handheld. I am happy that women are coming out and talking; we have that kind of environment where women can talk about it. Till now, women were not even ready to talk about problems. But still, I will insist all the women who have specific complaints should take them forward legally.
The NCW took a few days to issue a statement on the #MeToo movement. Why this delay?
I don’t think that is correct. On the first day actress Tanushree (Dutta) started talking about it, we tweeted urging her to come to us. After that, we started approaching her officially, but somehow it was very difficult to reach her. She was not taking calls; her manager did not connect us to her. I shared my number with her manager asking for a call back, but even then I did not receive any response.
Despite a mandatory Internal Complaints Committee in every company under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace law, many women do not approach these committees. They probably do not have confidence that this committee will take their complaints seriously because of the experiences. What are your views?
In a number of companies, women who have been harassed do approach the ICCs. But it is true that we get a lot of complaints from harassed women who feel their voices have not been given enough weightage. In some cases, ICCs are not formed properly even if it’s there; in others, there are no ICCs at all. In some cases, women are not satisfied with what the ICC has decided. But in such cases, we have limited role. We ask for the ICC report and if the complainant wants, we help her take it forward with the police. In some instances, we put pressure on ICCs to act fast and judiciously and that has yielded some good results.
There are just a few cases that have come to the NCW so far (under the #MeToo movement) even though dozens of women have come out and named their harassers. Is it because women feel that the commission has limited or no role in such cases?
So far, five-six women have approached us and we are taking appropriate measure in each case. Women have to understand that the NCW is the right platform if they want to take their cases to a logical end. We take up all the cases to police and ensure that all cases reach the courts. And that should be everybody’s agenda. But at the same time we do realise that some cases are very old, up to 20 years.
That’s why we are also making a point that there should be no time limit on reporting such cases. But to those who are sitting at home believing that nothing can be done, my argument would be, why not give it a try? We can probably make a panel of lawyers to help such women. So many possibilities are there, but the harassed women have to take the first step.
The movement has shown that probably workplaces are not safe enough for women yet or the existing laws are not being implemented properly. What do you think the NCW can do to make workplaces more equal and safer for women?
We have a sensitisation programme on Sexual Harassment at Workplace law, where we fund state commissions to organise workshops periodically. We will now step up our efforts further. At present, probably state commissions organise these workshops in 8-10 places, but we will now take it to every district of the country. The idea is to make every working woman aware that there are certain tools they have if they are being subjected to any sexual exploitation at work and they must use them.
In the Kerala nun rape case, you had said that the system of confession in churches should be stopped because that leads to blackmailing of women. That recommendation to the Union government created quite a flutter...
When I gave this suggestion, many Christian groups came forward to protest this and said the NCW should not intervene in religious matters, though some also welcomed the recommendation… But the majority felt out views hurt their religious sentiments. So we changed our recommendation to the government. We then said the churches should ensure that this practice is not misused and women are not exploited sexually because of this.
NCW has long been accused of being used as a political tool by the party holding power at the Centre. Many people are of the view that under you, it has made maximum noise in Opposition-ruled states like West Bengal but does not say or do much when the cases occur in BJP-ruled states. What would you say about that?
I can talk about the time that I have been here and I have been to Haryana to carry out many inquiries personally, and it is a BJP-ruled state. I have also gone to Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand to probe cases which are all governed by the BJP. My members have been sent to do extensive inquiries in Madhya Pradesh, too. But media only highlights what it wants to. On social media too, people who do not probably even know the expansion of NCW, bash us. So it’s easy for everybody to just say negative things about us. People need to see and understand the amount of work we do. I am not saying I am doing anything out of ordinary; I am doing certain work I am mandated to do, but if somebody says we do not do our job, it hurts.