Background

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Sexual harassment can have severe physical as well psychological consequences on individuals, leading to a violation of rights, and an erosion of dignity and belongingness of the victims. Workplace sexual harassment is a widespread form of violence which occurs within the matrix of power and domination which is characteristic of every workplace. For instance, as of 2020, approximately 75% of women workers had indicated being sexually harassed at the workplace. Similarly, in a recent report published by the World Bank, approximately 40-50% of women in South Asia have reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment within the workplace. These numbers, although alarming, are unlikely to depict the true extent of the prevalence of workplace sexual harassment and also demonstrate a pattern of high incidence of such violence specifically against women and other gender minorities.

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Workplaces have a responsibility towards the safety, security, and wellbeing of their employees. Such an obligation extends to them ensuring that workplace sexual harassment is prevented and adequate grievance redressal systems are available for survivors of such violence in cases where it does take place. While there exist some policy legal frameworks about the obligation of workplaces against workplace sexual harassment, these frameworks fall short. They are not implemented well and are not rooted in principles of trauma informed care, survivor-centric approaches, and rights-based interventions. Existing frameworks also embed a masculine approach to justice, designed primarily to protect able-bodied oppressor caste cis-women and do not account for the systemic structures of power and oppression which underlie such violence. 

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There is a need to critically examine the traditional understanding of justice underpinning existing legal and policy frameworks from a feminist lens which is responsive to these structural forms of oppression and capable of transforming them so as to provide equitable pathways to justice for survivors. One Future Collective, through this session, will present a conceptual framework of feminist justice named, the Tapestry of Feminist Justice, as a framework for workplaces to situate their approaches to prevent and provide redressal against workplace sexual harassment. This framework is rooted in feminist, trauma informed, and survivor centric approaches which are central to providing survivors a comprehensive, accessible, and impactful justice pathway. Through the session, One Future Collective invites participants to reflect on how this framework can be applied in their own contexts. We will also share case studies, best practices, and innovative insights into pathways by which businesses can use this framework to strengthen and shape their own grievance redress mechanisms against workplace sexual harassment.   ​

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Objectives

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• To highlight the transformative role that workplaces can play in providing workers with a safe workplace capable of preventing and providing redressal against workplace sexual harassment;

• To challenge and reframe traditional notions of justice and question the adequacy of existing policy legal frameworks in protecting and promoting the interests and wellbeing of survivors of workplace sexual harassment;

• To offer a feminist conception of justice and reframe access to justice within feminist principles of trauma informed, rights-based, and survivor centric care amongst others; and, 

• To showcase ways by which workplaces can strengthen their existing grievance redressal pathways and bring them in line with the feminist conception of justice.

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Key questions

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• What does a feminist justice approach mean in the context of workplace sexual harassment and what is its importance? 

• What changes as a result of workplaces adopting a feminist justice approach to workplace sexual harassment?

• What enables and acts as a barrier for businesses to practice and promote feminist justice within their workplace in the context of workplace sexual violence?