Mahila Bol, Currently Surveying
By: Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India, UN Women, HRhelpdesk
Type: Survey
Focus: To identify and build awareness on SH across working women
Participants: Women
Sample Size: Collecting Data
Key findings:
Collecting Data
Voice of Women 2017 – A Survey on Women at Workplace, April 2017
By: HRhelpdesk
Type: Survey
Focus: To identify the extent of SH across a spectrum of working women and recommend certain steps for women
Participants: Women
Sample Size: 3232
Key findings:
The survey had 3232 participants from across India and across sectors. It also had close to 5% population from across 29 countries.
While the survey talks about a lot of areas to work on, the key findings are as listed below
22 % women received justice when they filed a complaint about hostile behaviors in their workplace
5% women have not experienced any of the hostile behaviors in the workplace
85% women recommend that the best way to deal with hostile behaviors is by confronting them
86% women have experienced bullying and harassment at their workplace
58% women have been subjected to gender based discrimination
56% women have been a target of sexual harassment
1% women chose to file a complaint with the police, courts or government agencies
67% women get subjected to these behaviors in the first 5 years of the career
Garima Sexual Harassment at Workplace, November 2016
By: Indian National Bar Association
Type: Survey
Focus: To identify the extent of SH across working women and men
Participants: Men & Women
Sample Size: 6092
Key findings:
A large number of women face sexual harassment at workplace but do not report it to avoid social stigma. The survey was carried out in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Assam, Jalandhar, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, and Lucknow, at BPOS, IT, education, legal, hospital and other working sectors. Around 38% of the respondents claimed sexual harassment occurred at workplace, while 22% said it in school and college and 40% complained of harassment at other places.
The respondent victims were employed mainly at Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and other regions like Assam, Jalandhar, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Lucknow with age groups between 23-50years. The study also found that almost 69% of the victims never complain or report sexual harassment citing a plethora of reasons ranging from fear of social stigma to a lack of confidence in the recourse system. most of the respondents were from various work domains starting from IT, Media, Education, Legal, Medical, Agriculture and to others.
The survey revealed most of the women respondent victims, of not reporting to the management about their experience of sexual harassment at the work and dealt with it on their own, reasons mostly due to fear, embarrassment, lack of confidence in the complaints mechanism, unawareness and due to stigma attached with sexual harassment.
Creating a safe work environment Best practices to deal with sexual harassment at the work place, March 2016
By: Deloitte
Type: Survey
Focus: To identify the extent of SH preparedness by organizations, but focused audience was Legal and HR Heads
Participants: Men & Women
Sample Size: 52
Key findings:
The level of importance given to a sexual harassment case in corporate India remains a cause of concern. Around 69 percent of survey respondents indicated that post resolution by the ICC, a majority of the sexual harassment cases were documented and reported to the Head of HR, while around 35 percent indicated reporting them to either the Legal Head or the Managing Director. Although the POSH Act suggests that companies are to annually report the number of cases of sexual harassment led and redressed only 21 percent of the respondents indicated that such cases were documented and reported to the board of their respective companies. We have observed that this trend is more applicable to domestic companies than multi-nationals.
With the new Companies Act 2013 making it mandatory for companies listed on the stock exchanges to appoint at least one woman director on the Board, this move might perhaps propel discussion at the Board level on issues of sexual harassment at the workplace.
In the eventual situation, where the complainant is not satisfied with the resolution provided by the organization, 71 percent of survey respondents indicated that they spent time explaining all the available options, including legal recourse and ensured their support to the complainant. However, 29 percent of survey respondents stated that either the complainant was offered a transfer to another department within the organization or was free to choose her next course of action. About 6 percent believed in tacitly encouraging the complainant to leave the organization.
Reining in sexual harassment at the workplace in India, April 2015
By: Ernst & Young
Type: Survey
Focus: To identify the extent of SH preparedness by organizations, but focused audience was senior executives
Participants: Men & Women
Sample Size: 120
Key findings:
According to the survey, almost half of the respondents’ organizations had not displayed this clearly at prominent places within their premises. The survey also revealed that around 31% of the respondents were not compliant with the Act (after its enactment), which mandates ICCs being constituted to address complaints relating to sexual harassment. However, enforcement is still low due to organizations’ nonchalant approach toward the issue.
According to our survey, 40% of the respondents are yet to train their ICC members, although the Act specially mandates this.
44% of the respondents’ organizations did not display the penal consequences of sexual harassments at conspicuous places.
Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplaces 2011-12, November 2012
By: Oxfam, IMRB
Type: Opinion poll
Focus: To identify the extent of SH in India
Participants: Women
Sample Size: 400
Key findings:
A good 17% of working women in India report having experienced sexual harassment at workplace. Most of these women reported to have faced incidents that were “"non-physical."" At least 66 of the 400 respondents reported having faced 121 incidents of sexual harassment. Nearly 102 out of 121 incidents were reported to be non-physical, whereas the remaining 19 incidents were physical in nature. While 87% of the general population and 93% of working women respondents reported awareness of sexual harassment of women at work place, majority of the victims did not resort to any formal action against the perpetrator. The top three industries that have emerged unsafe for women are labourers (29%), domestic help (23%) and small scale manufacturing (16%).
Workplace Sexual Harassment Survey, November 2010
By: Centre for Transforming India
Type: Survey
Focus: To identify the extent of SH in IT and ITES sectors
Participants: Women
Sample Size: 600
Key findings:
A survey published in November 2010 by the Centre for Transforming India found that more than 80 percent of the female employees of information technology, business process outsourcing and knowledge process outsourcing (BPO/KPO) companies had been subjected to some form of workplace sexual harassment. The survey covered 600 women working in the IT sector in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad. More than 50 per cent said the harassment was extreme — abusive language, physical contact or demands for sexual favours – and 72 per cent of the incidents involved superiors. Forty two per cent of the respondents said they did not know how to report the incident.
Even Men Aren’t Safe from Sexual Harassment at Workplace, August 2010
By: ET-Synovate
Type: Opinion Poll
Focus: To critically analyze the Act, talking about loopholes and how it needs work in multiple areas to make it an effective law. The survey titled, was part of the research paper
Participants: Men & Women
Sample Size: 527
Key findings:
Of the 527 people queried in the survey across seven cities in the country—Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune—19% said they have personally faced some kind of sexual harassment at office. In Bangalore, 51% of the respondents said they have been sexually harassed. Delhi and Hyderabad were the two other cities where a considerable percentage of the respondents said they have been sexually harassed—31% and 28% respectively. In Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune, the figure was 3%, 11%, 5% and 5% respectively.
While in most cities, more respondents said they had been verbally abused, in Bangalore, 66% said they have been physically abused. Delhi had the highest percentage (40%) of respondents saying they had been approached by their boss—male or female—for sexual favours. In Bangalore the figure stood at a close 32%.
About 18% of the respondents said sexual harassment usually comes with an offer for a favour—promotion, salary hike, etc. The figure was the highest again in Delhi (43%), followed by Bangalore (31%).
If you know of a research paper which should be listed here on the subject, please write to us at our email and we would be happy to list it on this page.