As part of its endeavor of ensuring a safe, secure and gender neutral campus, Indian Institute of Management-Indore organised a workshop on ‘Prevention of sexual harassment at workplace’ on Thursday. The session was conducted by psychologist Samriti Makkar Midha and advocate Sana Hakim. Both the experts also work with POSHequili—an organization that believes sexual harassment at workplace causes mental and/or physical damage to the person harassed. It also curtails opportunities at workplace by creating a discriminatory work environment.

The session covered aspects related to hearing and addressing complaints regarding sexual harassment and spreading awareness about gender-related issues and functioning of the Internal Complaints Committee. Midha started her talk by an activity which explained the difference between ‘good touch’ and ‘bad touch’ and explained how a person’s body language plays an important role in understanding what he or she feels.

Discussing about various forms of sexual harassment (verbal, physical, visual), Midha said that silence doesn’t always mean that any act is welcome; and encouraging some behaviour doesn’t mean that any kind of behaviour is welcome. She also discussed how many women do not complain or report due to fear of retaliation, social stigma, lack of evidence, fear of loss of reputation, low self-confidence, fear of job loss or lack of awareness.