Over the years, your support has made Women’s Web the leading resource for women in India. Now, it is our turn to ask, how can we make this even more useful for you? Please take our short 5 minute questionnaire – your feedback is important to us!
We've all been there and outraged at why women don't give it back when faced with sexual harassment at work. The reality is more complex.
We’ve all been there and outraged at why women don’t give it back when faced with sexual harassment at work. The reality is more complex.
The empowered woman in me often lets loose my rage and agony at the apathy and compliance of my tribe when confronted with situations of exploitation at work. As a student taking baby steps into the corporate world, it never occurred to me that it may not be as easy to act as it would be to outrage and bemoan.
The news regarding our college fest had to be published in a newspaper. As a marketing student, despite being forewarned that it was ‘not a woman’s job’, I was thrilled at the prospect of meeting the head of the marketing department of a newspaper and getting the work done. And I did succeed. But the process was not as smooth as I visualized it would be and left me disillusioned.
I met Mr X at his office and the warm gentleman he seemed to be was a plausible enough reason for him to help us students readily with our media promotion. After a mail, I sent him our posters, videos and content on Whatsapp with a very formal salutation.
Did I make a mistake? I am not sure because the exchanges began going off the mark; it now went further to ‘dear’ ‘only for you’ ‘you are special’ etc when all I had to say was ‘Sir, but what about the article?’. It wouldn’t really matter but I was left speechless when a friend in the department told me that MAr X was a married man.
My female friends have often narrated similar experiences; of lewd remarks, innuendos and uninvited advances. I have often wondered, while listening to on-screen actresses speak about the casting couch phenomenon and stories of men higher up in the hierarchy abusing employees, their reluctance to seek immediate help and react forthwith. Now I do understand why. It is because she is helpless and has to get her job done.
It becomes an entirely different proposition when it is your bread and butter at stake. The many women who struggle to make ends meet with their jobs do not really have a choice. Power confers on the man the privilege to make demands, feel entitled and renders him fearless. Indeed, power is the reason why women get discriminated against in the patriarchal family setup, at workplace or in the society. And that is exactly why we need more women in power.
Be it electoral rolls, decision making bodies, offices, student bodies, it is critical that women be given representation and that that they hold power. The absolute lack of professionalism in the workplace is unsettling.
Anyway, I did get the article published and Mr X has been blocked on Whatsapp.
Top image is of Deepika Padukone from the movie Piku, which is among the few that shows a working woman
Guest Bloggers are those who want to share their ideas/experiences, but do not have a profile here. Write to us at [email protected] if you have a special situation (for e.g. want read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
Be it a working or a homemaker mother, every parent needs a support system to be able to manage their children, housework, and mental health.
Let me at the outset clarify that when I mention ‘work’ here, it includes ANY work. So, it could be the work at home done by a homemaker parent or it could be work in a professional/entrepreneurial environment.
Either way, every parent struggles to find that fine balance between ‘work’ and ‘parenting’, especially with younger kids who still need high emotional and physical support from their caretakers. And not just any balance, but more importantly, balance that lets them keep their own sanity intact!
Paromita advises all women to become financially independent, keep levelling up and have realistic expectations from life and relationships.
Heartfelt, emotional, and imaginative, Paromita Bardoloi’s use of language is fluid and so dreamlike sometimes that some of her posts border on the narration of a fable.
Her words have the power to touch the reader while also delivering some hard hitting truths. Paromita has no pretences in her writing and uses simple words which convey a wealth of meaning in the tradition of oral storytellers – no wonder, Paro is a much loved author on Women’s Web.
This June we celebrate twelve years of Women’s Web, a community built by you – our readers and contributors.