New variants of an old nemesis: Cyber sexual harassment of women at the workplace in India

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Kanika K Ahuja

University of Delhi, India

: Int J Ment Health Psychiatry

Abstract

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Statement of the Problem: Cyber sexual harassment (CSH) has surfaced as an offshoot of work from home and the hybrid mode of working ushered by the pandemic. Previous research has highlighted the impact of such harassment especially on women employees, such as economic vandalism, lowered organizational commitment, work stress, absenteeism, intention to quit, and even mental health issues. Methodology: The present study aimed to assess the relationship between CSH of women and job satisfaction using the survey method. The sample comprised of 123 women employed in varied private sector organizations in India. The inclusion criteria were women under the age of 40 years working from home at least once a week over the last 6 months. Tools included adapted version of Ritter’s scale of cyber-sexual harassment (2013) and Generic Job Satisfaction Scale (MacDonald & MacIntyre, 1997). Results showed 5.6% participants reported being sexually harassed online. Further, a significant, albeit small correlation between cyber sexual harassment and job satisfaction (r=-0.237) was found. In addition, simple linear regression analysis showed that only 4.8% of the variance in job satisfaction was explained by CSH. The low prevalence of CSH may be due to ambiguity over what counts as sexual harassment in the online medium, hesitancy in reporting, lack of policies to address this form of harassment and general normalization of CSH. Conclusion & Significance: While the results indicate a low prevalence of CSH, this does not mean that women in the workforce are not experiencing CSH. In fact, 5.67% of the sample reported being victims of this phenomenon, while 9.76% were unsure of whether they had experienced it or not. This indicates the need to formulate clear guidelines, legal boundaries, and visible enforcement vehicles. It must be the primary responsibility of every organisation to ensure a safe and secure working space for its employees, be it offline or online.

Biography

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Dr. Kanika K. Ahuja is Professor, Department of Psychology, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi. She has about 25 years of teaching, research and professional experience. Her current areas of interest are social psychology, gender issues and organizational behavior. She is the editor of The Learning Curve, a peer-reviewed journal published by Lady Shri Ram College, since 2018. She has published about forty articles in leading journals, authored books and text books, and presented several papers and key note addresses in national and international conferences. She conducts workshops for parents, teachers and students in schools, as also soft skill training, recruitment and psychometric projects for corporates and GoI. She has done research projects on conflict resolution and peace building in Kashmir, creating sustainable global partnerships in higher education, gender gap in mathematics, body image, and enhancing self-esteem among young school girls.