India Inc's POSH promises aren't saving women from workplace abuse

Modern times, right? We should be beyond the point where women are struggling for women's safety and success. But sadly, that's not our reality. Up-to-date stats show women's work participation is still lagging. Too often, news headlines spell out the nasty situations women face at their jobs. This proves their ongoing women's safety in the workplace issues limit how much they can contribute to working life.

Unwanted advances, mental abuse, disparaging remarks about their skills, and simply being treated less due only to their gender, these weigh on women. They hold women back from reaching their potential and climbing the professional ladder.

Deloitte’s 2024 Women @ Work report delivers the sad news. Half of women feel unsafe at work or on commutes to work. While incidents of non-inclusive behavior, like hazing or put downs, have fallen somewhat, 43% of women still experience this within one year.

The Udaiti Foundation has a mission to close this gender discrimination. By investigating 700 companies on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), they dove into prevention of sexual harassment prevention (POSH) and workplace discrimination complaints from 2023-24. Figures are grim. POSH complaints leaped from 1,807 in FY 22-23 to 2,325 in FY 23-24, a 29% increase­.

Pending complaints also jumped 67% from 260 to 435 during the same period. By industry, service jobs reported most POSH cases per 1,000 women. Construction materials, metals, and mining followed. Companies with high complaints were those where employees mostly worked in workforce participation or onsite, per The Udaiti Foundation. So, we come to the hard questions: Is POSH regulation enough to keep Indian workplaces safe for women? What else are firms doing about women's work safety? Even amid periodic public outcry and guidelines like POSH and Vishakha, we're far from assuring safe workplaces for women in India, states Pooja Sharma Goyal, Founding CEO of The Udaiti Foundation.