10 per cent of India Inc gender-sensitive

NEW DELHI: Infosys settled for a $ 3 million payout to Reka Maximovitch, who blew the whistle on Phaneesh Murthy's sexual advances. But what's the scorecard on the rest of corporate India when it comes to addressing the problems of sexual harassment at the workplace? A recent survey conducted by CII's Women Empowerment Committee amongst major India-based MNCs and companies about their gender policies throws up many important issues, not the least of which is sexual harassment (SH).Out of the 40 companies surveyed — Citibank, HSBC, Hughes Software, Infosys, Wipro, Asian Paints, HLL, Birla Group, American Express, HTA and Star TV amongst them — 64 per cent say they have a formal policy on SH, 22 per cent are in the process of planning them and 14 per cent have no policy. Is this the real picture? Says Anita Ramachandran, CEO of Mumbai-based H R consultancy firm Cerebrus, which lead the survey team: "Most companies have SH policies only in their books for compliance reasons. The actual figure would have been close to 5 per cent pre-Phaneesh Murthy and perhaps 10 per cent post facto." The CII survey panned across sectors, but eventually, more IT and MNCs responded as the proportion of women in many desi companies was really low, according to Ramachandran. The survey found that: Working women were sexually harassed by employers, customers and vendors and most companies address only their employees in the formal policy. Mostly MNCs and IT companies have initiatives. Citibank has "Respect at Work" and GE has anonymous helplines. Infosys now has whistleblower@infosys.com. "The truth is that most Indian men have no idea what constitutes SH," says Ramachandran. Yet, the apex court had defined it clearly, directed all companies to conduct awareness campaigns and set up committees to look into complaints six years ago. Says Flavia Agnes, leading women's rights lawyer: "The spirit of the judgment has been lost — rather than creating better environment and prevention, most companies concentrate on damage control." K Dinesh, a co-founder of Infosys who heads HR, says: "In India, awareness levels of employers about the importance of creating healthy work environment is not high." In a global, multi-cultural environment companies should wake up to best practices from around the world, he feels. The National Commission for Women (NCW), in fact, is now in the process of drafting a Bill against sexual harassment at the workplace, which should be ready for Parliament next year. However, as Agnes, one of the committee members revising it points out, the draft Bill holds the employer equally liable for poor conduct. "This would be suicidal, as most employers would turn anti-women." In a scenario where gender ratios in workplaces are already skewed and unstated policies against women keep them in their places, aggressive women-friendly legislations will further tilt the scales against women. "The fear of legislation is serious in the US, not in India, even so people will be cagey in hiring women," says Ramachandran. Many companies will build in clauses in their contracts, which will recover costs from employees in case of a SH case, she foresees. However, as Dinesh hopes: "Time will decide whether Indian companies will be cynical or progressive."