Federal Ombudsperson for Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplaces Kashmala Tariq has said that text messages containing good morning and good night wishes and poetry fall under workplace harassment too, a private TV channel reported.
At an event in Islamabad Saturday, she said that sending unnecessary messages, on any social media platforms or elsewhere, is an invasion of a person’s privacy. “It is harassment. If your colleague calls you pretty out of the blue, even that is harassment.”Tariq pointed out that no one understands what a bad touch or stare is better than a woman. “Saying something inappropriate, whether sarcastically or flirtatiously, too, is counted as harassment.”
Women are often times advised against reporting misbehavior, the ombudsperson said, but we always encourage them to speak up and use their rights. “Our problem is that we aren’t aware of what we can do,” she regretted. Tariq said that it is mandatory for every workplace to form a three-member harassment committee. Companies that fail to do so will be fined. The ombudsperson questioned why organisations wait for the worst to happen to form a committee. “No matter what the scale of the complaint is, big or small, it is their [committee’s] responsibility to solve it lawfully.” She revealed that not just workplaces, but even schools, colleges and universities are no longer safe for women. “We have been receiving complaints of harassment against professors and even fellow students.”Harassment committees are, therefore, immensely important.
The ombudsperson revealed that the federal government has passed a new law for the property rights of women.”If women are not getting the right to property, they can contact our agency. We, the Federal Ombudsperson for Harassment, decides in two months, and women can apply online without a lawyer,” Tariq revealed.Women will get justice only when they strive against what’s unfair, she added.
