Gender Sensitisation and Awareness on Sexual Harassment – June 2022
Date of Conduct: 9th June, 2022
Duration: 50 minutes
Speaker’s Name: Ms. Renuka Mukadam, POSH Consultant and Trainer
HOD/Concerned Faculty Head: Dr. Sandip Solanki, SIIB
Batch: 2022-24
No of students present: 250+
Synopsis:
A “Gender Sensitization and POSH Awareness” workshop was conducted by Ms. Renuka Mukadam, POSH Consultant and Trainer for the MBA batch of 2022-24. With over 15 years of work experience in dealing with various women’s health issues and implementation of the VISHAKHA Guidelines, she is also an expert in the subject matter of gender diversity and sexual harassment who has played crucial roles in driving the compliances of the POSH Act.
Ms. Renuka kickstarted the session by discussing preliminary concepts that could play a role in sexual harassment before discussing the topic in-depth further. The discussions focused upon:
Gender: as a social and non-biological construct which gives us ideas, images, roles, restrictions and privileges.
Power: people in positions of power may feel that they are indispensable and hence indulge in inappropriate behaviour.
Sexuality: could be a complex and unique part of our personality which is formed by our upbringing and informed by gender roles. Sometimes, a person may not know whom to turn to as they explore their sexuality. They may not consider if they infringe on another person’s personal space.
Personal Boundaries and Comfort Zones: determine one’s behaviour and receptivity to their behaviour. When boundaries get crossed repeatedly in a sexually coloured manner, it could play a role in sexual harassment.
Ms. Renuka further explained to the audience that ‘sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual behaviour which crosses boundaries’, and could be physical, verbal, non-verbal or digital. She emphasized that the law considers the impact on the victim, not the perpetrator’s intent. Further, the differences between ‘sexual harassment and flirting’, and the importance of understanding consent were highlighted. Various provisions under ‘The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013’, the UGC Guidelines and its internal committee, and the SIU Policies were noted, as well as the process of filing a complaint with the Committee for redressal of grievances.
The session concluded with an intriguing question-answer session.
Overall feedback:
The session was exciting and interactive, and students received many insights into the concepts of
Gender Sensitivity, Sexual Harassment and Consent.
Key Takeaways
“It was a very insightful session. Ms. Renuka Mukadam ma’am explained all the points related to Sexual harassment very well.”
– Jaina Patel, MBA – IB
“It was an interesting and interactive session with Ms. Renuka Mukadam ma’am. It was extremely informative and to-the-point in terms of sexual harassment and gender sensitization.”
– Namrata Hazarika, MBA-IB
