THIS country’s universities have a real fight on their hands when it comes to tackling pervasive sexism, misconduct and sexual harassment.

Recently, a final-year student of the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University (SBBU) in Nawabshah, Sindh, accused her professor, the head of the English department, of having harassed her for months.

Addressing a press conference along with her father, she explained that she had approached the vice-chancellor several times but he didn’t take the matter seriously, instead falsely implicating her father in a car-accident case to pressurise her into withdrawing the charge. While the student’s plea for justice has been taken up by the Sindh High Court, a separate four-member inquiry committee is to investigate her complaint and report its findings to the chief minister.

Such cases demonstrate how many educational institutions, instead of addressing the complaints of their students fairly, are concerned about protecting their own reputations and that of their academic staff. Though it is impossible to estimate the extent of the problem, since public records are few and victims reluctant to register complaints because it risks their academic career, sexism is rife in male-dominated institutions.

The silence on harassment will only be broken when universities follow legal policy by registering and investigating complaints and ensuring zero tolerance for this type of behaviour.

Deen Muhammad Ghoto

Ghotki

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2018