Flirting with fire

June 27th, 2010

Stolen kisses and afternoon lunches. Reading poetry and exchanging gifts. Sounds like fairy-tale romance? Well, if claims of a certain Ms Lisa Rundle are to be believed, all this was, actually, sexual harassment! Stumped? Welcome to the 21st century work place — a space where the professional and the private converge to create an inadmissible but expected by-product– complications. And lots of it.


Until last week, all was going hunky-dory for David Davidar, poster boy of the publishing industry and the then CEO of Penguin Canada. He had an enviable job, a reputation as the man who made Penguin a name to reckon with in publishing in India, his wife to give him company, and he loved what he was doing. Then came the office romance (or shall we say “consensual flirting”). And the inevitable kiss-and-tell stories followed. Before he knew it, he had made headlines for all the wrong reasons. The clinical timeline of his relationship with Ms Rundle, published by his own counsel, only added fuel to the fire. As of today, Davidar is unemployed, back to swades and will possibly have to cough up damages worth $100,000. Lisa Rundle will walk away with a sack of money and all our sympathies.

It raises a million-dollar (excuse the pun) question: How difficult, or easy, is it for the woman in the Indian work place? With the rise of India Inc and the rise of the ambitious Indian career woman, are we set to witness a rise in harassment incidents within open-plan offices and close-knit teams? Who is to blame? Is it the women, fighting for survival and recognition among accounts and balance sheets? Or the sleazy male boss/colleague who believes his ‘yearly bonus’ includes the right to touch, letch, verbally harass the other sex sharing work space with him.

Closer home, recently, a teacher who had gone for a job interview was asked by the principal of a popular school in Chattisgarh to sing a ghazal and explain how she breastfed her child. She walked away, angry and hurt. In another incident, a female employee of a call centre was harassed by her team manager who constantly told her she had “a beautiful body”. He took the liberty to make his point by rubbing her thighs. What did she do? Nothing. She is the sole earning member of her family. Sexual harassment is also rampant in the garment industry, where the power play is between factory supervisors and higher officials and the young girls from poor families, who form the majority of the industry’s workforce.

Clearly, there’s something wrong with the work culture in India. What is it? Is our social conditioning contributing to such behaviour in the work place? Says Munira Sen, director, Common Purpose, “We need to re-examine the social mores of this country. Men and women are segregated right from childhood — they attend single-sex schools, sit in separate tents at weddings. But when they enter the workplace, these barriers are broken. Different genders, castes, classes and communities come together, often leading to a situation where many people don’t know how to handle being in a space with so much diversity.”

At the same time, corporates continue to make ever more ambitious plans to increase diversity at the work place. Without making some fundamental changes in attitudes and social mores, this can only fuel what’s already a raging problem.

Working in an office today is not just about one’s professional ability. It’s also about being able to handle relationships and situations. A woman, especially, has to maintain a balance between keeping her job and staying within the parameters she finds comfortable.

But that’s not to say that only women fall victim. Many corporate professionals believe that the new independent, ambitious Indian woman, eager to climb up the corporate ladder, poses a threat to men as well. Says Arunima Lahiri, consulting senior communications director, LinOpinion, Lowe Lintas, “Many girls use the system. They are ambitious and know this is a fast-track. They get starry-eyed about the rich boss with his flashy cars and unlimited credit cards. Slowly, it turns into a relationship. And when the promises made by the boss are not kept, the girl cries foul! I have been in the corporate world for over 25 years. I have never been harassed because I make my intentions very clear.”

Vijay Jacob, a vice president with Grey Advertising, agrees, “In the creative fields, women come to work in shorts and dresses. That does not mean the men automatically start sexually harass her. It’s not the clothing that is provocative, the behaviour is. If her persona is provocative, such incidents have a higher chance of occurring.”

Undeniably, though, it is usually the woman who is the victim —whether in plush corporate offices staffed by men in grey suits, in dingy government buildings where the babu reigns supreme, in flashy new-age technology and service companies, woman are crying harassment. And it’s getting widespread and worse, with students being harassed by professors, and hospital nurses complaining of rape by colleagues.

What can corporates and bosses do to save themselves the embarrassment and legal embroils of a sexual harassment charge? K. Vaitheeswaran, founder-CEO of online shopping mall Indiaplaza, offers a stringent code of conduct, “As a higher up, you must treat all employees in exactly the same manner — whether male or female. Also, avoid any physical or social contact unless absolutely necessary.”

But one wonders if that is a solution in an era when enterprise success also makes a very contradictory demand on the members of a team – that they share a certain sense of bonding and camaraderie?

With the ever-growing list of men who have faced ignominy including such names as Phaneesh Murthy, the former head of sales of IT giant Infosys, who had to quit following the charges, Punjab ‘supercop’ K.P.S. Gill, IAS officers, top military generals, and now David Davidar, it seems men in privilege positions seem unable to learn a crucial lesson — don’t misbehave ‘cause the women aint keepin’ quiet no more.

* * *

Priya Kapoor, editorial director, Roli Books

"Sexual harassment at the workplace is a sensitive topic, with many grey areas since it can be exploited by both men and women. In the publishing industry, forming a relationship with colleagues is important because you will be interacting with a large but close-knit team. When you spend a lot of time with a few people, these things can happen. It takes a lot for the woman to come out in the open and complain. Ultimately, individuals are responsible for their own actions. The higher a person’s position, the more careful he/she needs to be.

Vidisha Pavate, supermodel

"Models are like beautiful architectural buildings. People want to take photos of them, stare at them, try to touch them. This is our profession. We cannot be narrow-minded. Yes, you will find people taking extra time to drape a saree on you or trying to take advantage of you during a photo-shoot in an exotic location. But, sometimes, the designer might take time to drape a saree simply because he is a perfectionist.

So, we models learn to build an instinct that helps us differentiate the sleazeballs from the professionals. It is unacceptable to touch our thighs for no reason or make physical contact while talking to us. However, in the fashion industry, more than the females, it’s the men that complain about sexual harassment since many people here are gay.”