Gender stereotypes – they feel like a never-ending battle that starts right from the moment we come into this world! It begins with the inevitable monochrome bombardment of “Pink is for girls and blue is for boys”; it then goes onto “Boys don’t cry”, “Boys shouldn’t cook”, until we end up at “Men know nothing about childcare and suck at parenting!”

These are dangerous analogies that do more harm than good, as any overworked woman with a spouse who does nothing will tell you!

While it is great that all of us are talking a lot more about gender quality and breaking stereotypes when it comes to our girls, we often (and very comfortably) forget our boys. As a mother, I feel our boys need a sense of gender equality even more so than our girls – simply because real change is not going to come by if we leave this 50% behind. Such stereotypes also put a big burden on boys to hide their emotions and not be too obviously caring.

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Half of the total crimes against women in India happen at the workplace and it is alarming to note here that 70 % of these cases go unreported. For many it is a regular phenomenon and yes it could happen to any of us.

From journalists to Supreme Court interns to a very recent anonymous post by an ‘Indian Fowler’ alleging that she was sexually harassed at work by Arunabh Kumar, Founder of viral video makers, TVF, sexual harassment at the workplace is a huge issue and slowly becoming a menace that needs to be addressed on a war footing.

It is appalling to see that despite the rising numbers of women who are sexually harassed at work, women are still finding it hard to raise it with their employers and bringing their tormentors to task. In fact more often than not their claims are either dismissed as “Duniya hai. Hota hai” by the management and if persisted they are asked to leave. Employers are either unaware of the law’s provisions or have implemented them partially or have set up internal panels that have poorly trained staff. On top of this, little gender parity in organisations even today is another glaring factor responsible for the lack of redressal of for women who are sexually harassed at work. Countless such cases are reported by women; high profile ones get media attention, but seldom do they see the light of day.

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