'I've never seen a proper internal complaints committee in...': Rise in workplace harassment of women in Kerala
KOCHI: On February 10, media houses reported the death of Jolly Madhu, a 56-year-old section officer at the Coir Board. She reportedly died of cerebral haemorrhage caused due to extensive mental pressure and stress induced by her seniors at work.
A few days later, it was reported that Alina Benny, a school teacher from Kozhikode, ended her life on February 18. She had been in distress as she had never received a pay cheque in the six years she spent working for the Catholic-run school. “Complaints of workplace harassment have been high in Kerala in the past few years,” Kerala Women’s Commission (KWC) chairperson P Satheedevi had noted at a press meet recently.
As per the KWC, it registered 190 cases related to workplace harassment in 2022. The number rose to 194 cases in 2023. In 2024, 168 cases were registered. The commission said in the category of complaints it received, those related to workplace harassment were on top, along with those on domestic abuse.
According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey, female participation in the state’s workforce grew from 32.3% in 2020-21 to 36.4% in 2023-24.
Satheedevi had said that though a system had been in place for years, women were scared to come forth and complain, as they feared being targeted, ostracised and even losing their jobs.
“We have now been seeing a huge shift in attitude, More and more women are speaking out against workplace harassment. Many complaints are being registered through the POSH portal (of the women and child development department) and in the public sittings we hold across the state,” she had said.
The KWC chairperson said most complaints were from women working in private educational institutions, IT firms, textile industry and private hospitals. “The complaints include those on mental, physical and sexual harassment, stress induced by work pressure as well as distress caused by gender-based discrimination at work,” she had said.
Krishna Vinod, a techie in Kochi, agreed to the allegations against the IT industry. “I have never seen a proper internal complaints committee (ICC) in the IT sector. Even if it’s there, none would complain fearing serious repercussions. I have experienced it,” she said.
“Stress induced by unrealistic deadlines, and unregulated work hours that eat into family time are also very common in the industry. And if you are a married woman, companies intentionally try to avoid hiring you,” Krishna said.
Workplace harassment of women became the hot topic of discussion in 2024 after the release of the Justice Hema Committee report that highlighted the challenges and bad experiences faced by women employed in the Malayalam film industry.
