Nazeer Ahmed Arijo
Women are vulnerable, and scores of women have faced sexual harassment at
workplaces. Those contractual and daily wagers are at risk of being victimised in every context. It is very unfortunate that the daughters of Eve, after breaking various cultural barriers, reach professional fields, but they are being exploited by sexual manipulators in various sectors. Can we dig deeper into personality traits that explain why sexual harassment happens? 1) Men who belive they are superior. 2)
Woman is seen as an object of satisfying baser biological urges. 3) Men who misunderstands and misreads signals from women /girl; a smile given, or a frank talk is misconstrued as the nod for the romantic entanglement- flirtation. 4) Neanderthals who don’t know (or don’t care if this behaviour is offensive. Those sexually harassed will have to bear the psychological, phyical and mental baggage for later life. Internationally recognized devastating and long_term impact of sexual harassment on emotional, psychological and sometimes physical well-being are as under. Emotional effects: Anger,
Fear, Humiliation, Shame, Guilt, Betrayal, Vilolence, Powerlessness and loss of control. Mental health effect: Anxiet, Depression, Panic attacks, Difficulty concentrating, loss of motivation, Substance abuse, Suicidal thoughts. Physical effects: Increased Stress levels, Headaches, Fatigue, Sleep disturbances, Dietry disturbances. The stigma of being sexually harassed cuts deeper than a blade.And, the shame emanating from the episode, sticks in one's life like a tar, refusing to die away for many years. The society starts looking down upon those victims, creating many problems, in later practical life. Those
tainted characters have tarnished the image of both teaching profession and the teaching community.
The Lahore Grammar School faculty members involved in sexual hrassment have been dismissed on the heels of Me Too movement, launched by the girls. Their dismissal is no punishment; the accused should have been taken to task in accordance to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (2016). To move forward and combat this moral cancer called sexual harassment, a number of measures can be taken. Those found guilty should not only be life – times banned in educational organizations, but also are disqualified for any sectors where female students are are enrolled for academic activity or any training,
or female workforce is working.Fired by one institution, and hired by an other organisation won’t help curb the crime in question as they will be doing the same there, because old habits die hard. Besides, all educational institutions must have comprehensive sexual harassment policy for their respective teaching and nonteaching staff as well as students. A proper orientation programme on the subject being highlighted may be imparted to teachers, administration and students at the start of every academic year along with consequences.Also, the students must be apprised of multidimensional methods applied by unscrupulous educators to catch the vulnerable. Besides, in order to curb this crime
being dicussed, institutions should put in place inbuilt filters to catch, and subsequently flush out the immoral .Such a watchdog comprising people of integrity and honesty be entrusted to be be vigilant within the four walls of institutions. Unscrupulous charcters can be easily caught on camera-the human eye, through gestures and inclinations given. 2 | Page There should be no soft corner for unscrupulous characters called harassers and sexual predators in our educational organizations and other sectors; and a policy of acting with urgency is priortised in the face of such immoral activity happening within the
walls of institutions.The whole edifice of education stands on three Cs: confidence, competence and character building.Sexual harassment erodes confidence, and kills cognitive capacity. Since harassers are polluting prophetic profession called teaching and shattering trust of both parents as well as students, so those with corrupt conduct, be handcuffed, prosecuted and punished as per the demand of both national and international laws of sexual harassment. .According to Billy Graham, when wealth is lost,
nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.Those losing thir character, can not be and should not be entrusted with responsibility of character building of our new generaion. Those unconcientious individuals should be both blacklisted and kicked out of corridors of teaching profession.
