Not until I read this absorbing book Working with Sharks by Dr Fauzia Saeed did I realise that not I but all those men who had tried to harass me in the workplace or in the public space were wrong. Freed from the feeling I have become surer about myself. The book revolves around the mischief of one person, abetted in his nefarious designs by other men, sitting atop prestigious positions at the United Nations Development Programme, better known by its acronym UNDP, in Pakistan. It is said that committing a crime is bad but giving a cover to the crime and allowing it to aggravate is worse. Various ideologies and religions set harsh reckoning for people who remain indifferent to the transgressions happening around them. A criminal is essentially weak; the very reason he takes up crime is to substantiate his shallow self. However, it is a criminal’s support system that lends him the courage to continue with the wrong. Unfortunately, attracting support for the right cause is always difficult. Taking up the road to discover the truth is always a one-man show — the crowd follows only later.
The writer feels rightly enraged over the culpability of the UNDP’s senior management and their ability to escape the exercise of shouldering the burden of proof. Fauzia had difficulty garnering support to stop the evil from flourishing while Tarik found the system receptive of the evil he had designed to hunt down women around him for sexual gratification. Not one or two; these were 11 women. From all age brackets, some could even fit the definition of being Tarik’s daughter. In our culture, the reference to a man’s daughter or his sister is made to stir his conscience about the vulnerabilities of a women’s honour. For people like Tarik such references become meaningless as they fall deeper into the mischief of tweaking circumstances to their advantage. Surprisingly, he sent his own daughter for internship to the Gender Unit run by the very woman (Fauzia) he had molested the most emotionally and then had the guts to frame her as the ‘dirtiest’ of the lot.
The working of the UNDP and the behaviour of foreigners ruffled my deep belief that organisations and men in civilised societies are necessarily decent. Or that being a woman automatically means being respected. I have had a hard time assimilating insults my seniors would heap on me over minor slip-ups. I had been in awe finding educated men, who would otherwise sermonise over women’s rights, slighting women on personal likes and dislikes. Fauzia’s efforts in bringing to light such behaviour are remarkable. Still, we need more hands to keep the wheel of her efforts moving.
Protection Against the Harassment of Women in the Workplace Act 2010 was adopted by parliament because of Fauzia’s incessant struggle. It passed amidst speculations and apprehensions. The religious forces in the National Assembly were united and pressed ahead with full force to bring the bill down on trivial issues, all revolving around the single mind-set to keep women’s rights against sexual harassment out of the legal pale. Raza Rabbani’s manoeuvring as a senator and Farooq Naik’s astuteness as the chairman Senate to allow the anti-women forces in the Senate to become empty of their arguments the day the bill was tabled and to hand over the charge of the bill to the progressive forces the day after, readily enacted the bill into a law. With the passage of this act, democracy began making sense as an ideology, giving each their rights to live according to their abilities.
We could have silenced the voices that were against giving a constitutional cover to women’s right to work without fear in the workplace but the journey to this freedom is far from over. We are still in the midst of never abating honour killings. Young girls are still being raped. Incidences of acid throwing on women are on the rise. Harassment in the workplace may not be in full swing on the surface in large organisations but we cannot say it is not being used behind the scenes as a tool to intimidate women, which is probably more difficult to handle.
Fauzia and her colleagues may have succeeded in identifying the sharks in the workplace and giving women the wherewithal to fight them if they turn beastly but the ammunition required for the act is still held by the men. The so-called establishment of internal committees to work in this regard in every organisation is not fully complied with, not that I know. I have worked in at least two different organisations in the last five years and none has this committee. I put up with the harassment fearing that if I made a complaint I would be misunderstood and perhaps might be asking for more such advances.
Another bitter truth that slows down anti-harassment drive is a woman’s behaviour towards other women in organisations. Women usually do not support their species especially on issues of harassment. There may not be a Fauzia in every organisation to galvanise support for a common cause but there could be a reality check on our conscience to discern between right and wrong. Women need to be more aware about their constitutional rights.
The right to know is as important as the right to act and honesty is a difficult terrain — not everyone is willing to stay the course. We could be awakened to the presence of sharks around us but if we are not prepared to eliminate them we will never free ourselves.
The writer is a copywriter and freelance journalist with an academic background in public policy and governance. She can be reached at [email protected]