Workplace harassment

Pakistan is going through a period of rapid evolution in terms of legislation designed to expand the rights of those who are most vulnerable in society. Much of the legislation relative to human rights and protection in the workplace enacted in the last five years is being imperfectly implemented or not implemented at all; which is no reason not to add to the legislative corpus. Thus it is that a Senate panel on February 13 proposed an amendment to anti-harassment laws that will extend their coverage to educational institutions. The laws up for amendment are — the National Accountability (amendment) Ordinance 2010, the Constitutional Amendment Bill-2011, the Anti-Rape Laws (Criminal Laws Bill, 2014 and the Protection Against the Harassment of Women in the Workplace (Amendment) Bill.

Senator Farhatullah Babar is suggesting that there be an amendment to the Protection Against the Harassment of Women in the Workplace (Amendment) Bill that would extend its ambit to educational institutions. It is something of a mystery as to why this was not done in the first place. Female students, as well as employees in educational institutions are, at times, subject to harassment. There is no shortage of well-documented instances of this. The amendment will also address the issue of just what is a ‘workplace’ — as an educational institution is no less a workplace than an office. It will further clarify exactly what constitutes ‘harassment’ and expand the law to cover women in all working situations. The law ministry has confirmed that, as it stands, existing legislation against harassment of women does not cover educational institutions and bodies — an obvious oversight. Harassment can come in many forms and it may include threats and coercion, or intolerable working conditions or discriminatory terms of service — all of which are common. We are for this amendment, which supports the right of women.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th,  2014.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.