By IANS,
New Delhi : As numerous instances of sexual harassment at workplaces are being brought to the fore, Foundation for Media Professionals, a forum to promote media freedom and quality journalism, underlined Wednesday the need for security of women.
The foundation said all media organisations must have committees that could look into issues of sexual harassment, and such committees could go a long a way in insulating women staff from such experiences.
Addressing a press conference here, Delhi Union of Journalists’ president Sujata Madhok said the absence of sexual harassment committees in media organisations had forced women working in the media to adopt a “culture of silence”.
“Though just the formation of such committees will not ensure the safety of the female employees, it itself is needed to ensure that someone intervenes and takes action against such erroneous activities”, Madhok said.
The meeting came after the recent instance of the sexual harassment of a junior colleague by former Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal in Goa early November was made public.
Supreme Court lawyer and prominent human rights advocate Vrinda Grover said even though the Vishaka Guidelines were rooted in the Indian constitution, more than 85 percent of institutions in the country did not have any sexual harassment committees, as mentioned in the guidelines.
Grover said the absence of such committees rendered women vulnerable, as women seldom complained of harassment at the hands of seniors at the workplaces.