Opinion: Sexual harassment in Pakistan: Challenges and prospects

By Rameez Mahesar

To be fair, sexual harassment is an intractable problem all across the world; but some societies are documenting the fewer cases in that they have taken sturdier steps to deal with the jeopardy.

This malpractice starts sparkling when a man holds a superior position of power and starts bullying, exploiting, pressuring, and blackmailing the women over sex.

With this respect, reports appearing in the newspapers bring to the surface the overwhelming shreds of evidence.

If we set the feet in the public-sector institutions, we can easily observe that they are not out of danger. Unfluctuating tertiary institutions that are supposed to render their services as solution centers are frequently embroiled in cases related to sexual harassment.

Then the question is; how to curb this pig-headed menace? Prior to solving the problem, it will have to be contemplated as to how to bar this heinous crime from being practiced.

The solution, however, lies in prevention. It will have to begin working from the family unit because it plays a very constructive role in the reformation of society.

The greater attention of parents in this regard is radically required to raise and mold their male children who must be crawled with sufficient psychological, spiritual, and emotional stability to empower them to serve as decent adults.

Besides, family units must have nothing to do with the run-through of shielding cum supporting those who are sex offenders.

It is a general phenomenon in Pakistan that social media activism scintillates with quarrels against the mishappening of sexual harassment if it occurs but after this, it secures the release of rapists and culprits of other sorts of sexual violence.

Again, there are the women who prefer to care for their spouses who mistreat their daughters.

They would rather protect the men and leave their daughters to face the music of suffering.

These women have to put themselves in the state of their ill-fated daughters to believe that the suffering from sexual exploitation is undreamed-of.

Afterward, it is the justice system that needs to be made more effective so that recorded cases concerning sexual harassment may industriously be dealt with.

The reforms in the regulatory as well as statutory charters should be brought to make certain that the laws against sexual violence are enforced accordingly.

Next are the workplaces, the staff needs to be periodically trained towards more accountability in the nexus between genders as well as procedures and standardised processes by which women, fallen victim to sexual harassment, can complain and get justice without any delay.

This same redress should be practical for their counterpart male staff as well. If any misconduct of sexual violence arises therein the workplaces, offenders must be brought to justice and be punished savagely – but not inhumanly, so as to witness the deterrence to others to set the example of justice.

In recent times, some issues have come out in the open that not only have aggravated the standard of higher education at the tertiary level but have also scattered the seed of fear in the minds of pupils.

The power dynamics between teachers and students is lop-sided in the leniency of faculty.

Teachers need to be continually made cognizant of sensitisation to hold a superior position of responsibility which must not be stirred up. Additionally, sometimes the cases are extended to the favour of students – by dint of ambiguity is in the system.

There are the students who sometimes intend to get even with their teachers and start sparking the heinousness of harassment.

This round needs to be justified clearly or some independent investigators must be engaged to look into the cases on the campuses to make certain that investigation reports are extended to a turn.

Because taking advantage on the basis of sex is a licentious behaviour that begets immorality, injustice, and corruption in society.

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As far as women are concerned, it is the right time for them to resist sexual harassers in institutions, workplaces, and in their families. In addition, it is, thus, illogical for a woman to give a man willingly ‘what he wants’ when the matter is inappropriate.

Though if this malpractice reigns, merit sinks, the system rescinds, and the unqualified people achieve what they do not deserve, the best people are rundown.

It is high time to completely wipe this out from our collective psyche in that it is inhuman, illegal, immoral, and crude at most.