Assam has painted a disturbing picture of sexual harassment of women at work places.
A report in Hindustan Times, quoting a report has stated that nearly 41 per cent women face sexual harassment at workplace in the State.
This alarmingly includes both government and private sectors.
The report, ‘Workplace safety and dignity for women in Assam’, is based on research carried out by Gauhati University and North East Network (NEN), a Guwahati-based NGO.
The report quoting Dr Polly Vauquline, associate professor at department of women studies in Gauhati University has stated that all sorts of sexual harassment, whether it is verbal, physical, mental take place in the State.
The report further stated that 69 per cent of harassment is of physical nature.
According to the report, the research was conducted among 364 respondents in seven urban areas – Guwahati, Barpeta, Kokrajhar, Tezpur, Dibrugarh, Diphu and Silchar.
What is more alarming is that according to the report most women were not even aware on what constitutes sexual harassment at workplace.
The study, the report quoted found that most women ‘have normalized sexual harassment as a casual everyday occurrence. Most of them consider only extreme forms of violence such as rape and molestation as sexual harassment’.
Notably, the National Crime Records Bureau data for 2016 has recorded second highest crime rate against women in Assam across the country, only next to the national capital.
While New Delhi recorded 160.4 crimes per lakh population, in Assam the figure stood at 131.3.