GUYANESE women are being urged to report instances of discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace to the Women and Gender Equality Commission (WGEC).
WGEC Chairperson, Indranie Chandarpaul, on the sidelines of an event last week told reporters that the Commission continues to face challenges in addressing the issue of women being harassed in the workplace, since many don’t come forward to make a report.
While calls have been made previously, no reports have been made for the year thus far.
“The problem that we have is that there is discrimination, or sexual harassment at workplaces; we all know that, but no one is bold enough to come forward,” Chandarpaul said.
She reminded that mechanisms are in place to handle reports, as well as to penalise perpetrators.
“We also wanted those who were engaged in sexual harassment; men [or] whoever is harassing women in the workplace to be mindful that there is a mechanism in place. It’s a two-way process; one for the victim and one for the perpetrator/s,” she said.
“We as a Commission look at the issue and we make recommendations in our report to parliament and when we send that report to parliament, parliament is required to look at that report and send it to the relevant agencies and then they are supposed to take action with respect to that. Once it happens, we want to tell the public that it will be treated in the strictest confidence,” she added.
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), more than one in five people (almost 23 per cent) who are employed have experienced violence and harassment at work, whether physical, psychological or sexual.
In 2022, the ILO, in collaboration with several other agencies, conducted a joint analysis, which highlighted that violence and harassment at work is difficult to measure.
Their report found that only half of the victims worldwide had disclosed their experiences to someone else, and often only after they had suffered more than one form of violence and harassment.
The most common reasons given for non-disclosure were “waste of time” and “fear for their reputation”.
Women were more likely to share their experiences than men (60.7 per cent compared to 50.1 per cent).
According to the report, globally, 17.9 per cent of employed men and women said they had experienced psychological violence and harassment in their working life, and 8.5 per cent had faced physical violence and harassment, with more men than women experiencing this. Of respondents, 6.3 per cent reported facing sexual violence and harassment, with women being particularly exposed.
