Sexual harassment: Just three hospitals countrywide have implemented an anti-harassment policy

Seminar participants concerned over private sector’s snub of the code of conduct.

ISLAMABAD: Only three hospitals country-wide have adopted the code of conduct prepared by the National Implementation Watch Committee (NIWC) to prevent sexual harassment at workplace.

Dr Fouzia Saeed, the chairperson of NIWC, told The Express Tribune on Sunday that the they were facing resistance from the hospital managements. “But women’s rights activists are doing everything they can to make them adopt the code of conduct,” she said.

The code of conduct is a step-by-step document prepared by NIWC on how to comply with Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act 2010.

Earlier, speakers at a seminar organised by Mehrgarh -- a member organisation of Alliance Against Sexual Harassment (AASHA) -- expressed concern over the private sector’s snub of the document.

Dr Saeed said, “Despite the proactive role of certain organisations, the implementation process of the act in the private sector is [slower than in government organisations].”

Margaret Reade Round, Programme Analyst at International Labour Organization, said that the Employers Federation of Pakistan was sensitising employers on the act. As a result, she said, 54 employers had already adopted the code while 21 more were in the process of implementing it.

Two research booklets titled “Leaders of Change”, documenting the results of a baseline study by AASHA, were also launched on the occasion.

The study, on a representative sample of women aged 10 and above, found: 0.1 per cent of all women are employers, 13.1 per cent are self-employed, 21.8 per cent are doing some kind of job while the remaining 65 per cent are performing “unpaid household work”.

The study also found that the existing criminal, civil and labour legislations did not deal with sexual harassment.

Similarly, an analysis of administrative policies showed that there is no mention of the word “sexual harassment” in any of the civil service rules at federal or provincial level. Private organisations, too, have no policies to address sexual harassment.

“Only two percent of the surveyed private organisations had some kind of anti-sexual [harassment] policy,” the study said. It concluded, “Sexual harassment is one of the biggest hurdle women face in Pakistan in getting good education or advancing in life.”

Former Information Minister Sherry Rehman was to be the chief guest on the occasion but had to drop out due to security concerns.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2011.