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THE Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) is perturbed by the view of Deputy Human Resources Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Bakar, as reported recently, that “compared with the 11.58 million workers that we have, the number of sexual harassment cases in workplaces was not serious” as only 254 cases of such incidents were reported in the past eight years.

The Deputy Minister’s view at best reflects a lack of understanding of the complexities surrounding sexual harassment and at worst amounts to a flippant dismissal of what should be a key concern given the purview of his ministry.

When it comes to sexual harassment at the workplace, the number of reported cases may not necessarily reflect the reality on the ground. Many workers are unclear as to what constitutes sexual harassment and are therefore unaware of their right to complain against such behaviour.

Secondly, most victims of sexual harassment are generally reluctant, too embarrassed or too afraid to come forward and lodge a complaint.

Such responses by victims are a problem even within companies that have adopted a policy against sexual harassment. In a study conducted by the All Women’s Action Society and the Women’s Development Collective, in 2000 and 2001, on such companies, 35% of the respondents reported that they had experienced one or more forms of sexual harassment at work. However, only 22%-25% of them actually lodged formal complaints. The majority indicated that they would rather confide in their colleagues instead of utilising official channels.

There is also a lack of confidence in the complaint procedures, mainly due to the often unequal power relations between harasser and victim, and the absence of measures to protect complainants against retaliation.

Thirdly, only a small minority of companies have adopted the Human Resources Ministry’s Code of Practice on the Prevention and Eradication of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace (“the Code”) that was introduced in 1999.

In 2001, the ministry itself stated that only 1.125% of the 400,000 employers registered under the Social Security Organisation had actually adopted the Code.

This would certainly affect the number of “reported” cases, as such.

The bottom line is that there does not have to be an avalanche of reported cases before the issue is taken seriously.

In this regard, JAG is glad that other Members of Parliament have in one way or another called for further scrutiny of the relevant policies and their implementation in this area. The irony is that the Deputy Minister of Human Resources himself does not appear to think the same way.

KAREN KAI,
Legal Officer, Women’s Centre for Change, Penang for and on behalf of the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality.

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