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To Speak or Not to Speak?

To Speak or Not to Speak?

Pakistan ranks 145 out of 146 countries on the Global Gender Gap Index for economic participation and opportunity and is estimated to have only about 24–25% of women who are economically active or employed. It could be said that you have to be the unluckiest woman in Pakistan to be working in male-dominated fields; however, at such an abysmal workforce participation rate, every field for women in Pakistan is unsurprisingly a male-dominated field.

Forget workplace harassment for a moment (not really though, but for now, humour me), and look at this figure: 1 in 3 women in Pakistan has faced sexual harassment of some form, and a mere discussion of this figure at my current workplace led me to almost 4 out of 5 female colleagues recounting stories of this likeness too. This also includes me. As for workplace harassment, studies (including reports from Gallup Pakistan and regional labour research) estimate that up to 70%–93% of women in various surveyed urban and rural work sectors have encountered workplace sexual harassment or unwanted sexual attention. These figures are real women with real lives, personalities, problems and aspirations who consistently, for too long, have faced a terrible choice: if she speaks out, the man responsible might be investigated, but even then she still risks losing her job and wider employment rights, while he just gets a slap on the wrist.

The problem, as I see it, is twofold. Firstly, women are still facing harassment, abuse and even sexual assault at the workplace. The second problem is that such abuse often only comes to light when women themselves speak up, even though doing so can put their wellbeing and careers at risk. Many women do not want to take the formal route. For things to change, women, particularly those in junior positions, should not have to choose between speaking out against senior male colleagues and protecting their professional growth and future prospects.

This now leads me to the recent........

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