THE alterations proposed in the Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010, will go a long way in strengthening the toothless law that has been in place for a decade. For several years now, human rights bodies and activists have been raising concern about the limited applicability of the harassment law, preventing adequate penalisation of government and private organisations where women have allegedly faced harassment. In fact, earlier this year, the Supreme Court also expressed similar views in its judgement in the Nadia Naz case. Nadia Naz had filed a petition against the termination of her services in 2017 at PTV where she was hired as a camera resource person in 2007. She was sacked before her complaint filed with the federal ombudsperson’s office could be resolved. The court asserted in its judgement that the existing anti-harassment law was “blinkered” in its application, which was why the complainant had failed to establish her case. The judgement further stated that the law did not address harassment in a holistic manner, and instead, focused only on its sexual aspect.

In this context, it is encouraging to see the human rights ministry working with the relevant stakeholders to amend the law. The amendments, which have been approved by the Senate human rights committee, include expanding the definitions of ‘workplace’ and ‘employee’, to bring into its ambit unconventional and informal workplaces, as well as gender-based discrimination that has so far remained outside its purview. Similarly, the legal definition of ‘employee’ has also been expanded to cover sportswomen, freelancers, students, artists and home-based and domestic workers. The changes proposed also recommend harsher penalties for employers in the form of increased fines, suspension or dismissal from service in the case of a government employee and revoking of professional licences. These amendments notwithstanding, it remains to be seen how the PTI-led government, under whose tenure misogynistic attitudes have grown more pronounced, ensures the implementation of an improved anti-harassment law. Hopefully, it will demonstrate its commitment towards a safer working environment for women.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2021