Setback to gender equality at work and home in face of COVID-19 crisis

Your Instagram feed during the pandemic might have been filled with men cooking exotic dishes to doing household chores, indicating a probable movement towards a more gender-equal society but this is far from reality. According to statistics from National Commission on Women, in a 25-day period from February 27 to March 22, 396 offenses against women had been registered, which grew to 587 complaints in the 25-day period ending on April 16. Women have faced harassment, threats, violence in both the work environment and home due to the restricted nature and the economic effects of the pandemic taking us back in our progress towards a gender-equal society.

With the changing dynamics of the work environment, women have faced requests for video calls from colleagues at unusual timings. They have faced cyberbullying and stalking. According to research published in TOI, 80% of women employees were aware of the policies, but 30% said that they would hesitate to file a complaint. It gets even difficult for women in the virtual setup to lodge a complaint. Although POSH (2013) has defined the workplace as any place visited by employees arising out of or during employment, most women have never worked from home, and they are second-guessing on whether they are facing misconduct. To make things worse, in these tough economic times, raising voice is especially tricky considering the repercussions on job security. In most cases, these doubts prevent them from raising their voice. Speaking to TOI, Kanti Joshi, lawyer and founder of SASHA (Support against sexual harassment), pointed out that from the organization’s perspective too, the changing times are challenging to manage, and sexual harassment issues may take a back seat. Some companies have stopped taking complaints, and in some cases, women are uncomfortable talking about the issues online with family around.

Domestic violence cases have seen a steep rise too. The lockdown creates a dangerous environment for victims where abusers can practice ‘intimate terrorism’ by exercising coercive control and power over women. The condition is not specific to India; a BBC report showed a 25% rise in Domestic Abuse against women during the pandemic. According to an article by Quartz, this is a common trend observed around the world. Governments declared lockdown and it was followed by a spike in distress calls to helplines. With lockdown regulations getting stricter with time, the situation worsened because the NGOs and social activists who usually help these women in distress found it impossible to manage their offline logistics or keep their online channels running. The issues that women have faced at the workplace and home show that the COVID-19 situation has hampered the progress towards gender-equal society.

This article has been written by Rohit Joshi, a PGP (2020–22) Student at IIM Ahmedabad . All the views expressed are his own.

References:

1. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/work-from-home-brings-virtual-sexual-harassment-home-too/articleshow/76543669.cms
2. https://qz.com/india/1838351/indias-coronavirus-lockdown-leads-to-more-violence-against-women/
3. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/strict-restrictions-of-mobility-resulted-increased-violence-against-women-says-study/article32233772.ece