Delegates at national workshop on capacity building for women empowerment at Vani Vihar in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, March 7: A UGC-sponsored national workshop on capacity building for empowerment of women was held at Utkal University today.

Chairperson of the State Commission for Women Jyoti Panigrahi said there had been a considerable increase in cases of sexual harassment of women at workplace, especially in the twin cities.

“The number of cases is reported have gone up by 13 per cent in the last couple of years,” said Panigrahi.

“While the rise in population and the increase in number of women choosing to take up jobs could be one reason, the fact is that more number of cases are being reported now. Women in the twin cities are to some extent aware of their rights and have a forum like the State Commission for Women to report the matter to. Earlier, such incidents went unreported,” she said.

“Cases of sexual harassment of women at workplace is as much prevalent as those in smaller towns and villages but most of the time they go unreported,” she added.

Prevention of harassment in the workplace is a national concern.

It is believed to be a form of gender discrimination and violation of human rights, the State Commission for Women chairperson said adding there was an urgent need for women to be aware of their rights.

The commission has constituted a team to see that all offices have a sexual harassment committee.

The panel is also trying to ensuring that they are represented in these committees.

“We are making an effort to raise awareness on this issue. The understanding regarding harassment in the workplace must be improved. Everyone including workers, employers, and government officials must be sensitised to design future preventive measures,” Panigrahi said.

Speaking on the increasing number of cyber-related cases, she said with the advent of hi-tech gadgets, there has been a sudden rise in cyber crimes. Students, in particular, need to be very careful while dealing with sensitive issues like this to avoid landing in trouble. Earlier we used to hear sexual harassment cases after certain age limit, but this trend has changed, even teenagers are finding themselves in this trap,” she said.

Utkal University’s PG council chairman S. Moharana said in campus placements, companies were preferring girls over boys. They find girls more aggressive and ready to take risk.

“This in itself talks about how the attitude of the society towards women has changed over the years. However, the empowerment of women has failed to penetrate rural regions,” he said.

The two- day workshop, organised by the varsity’s sociology department, aimed at generating awareness about the empowerment mission, policies and programmes of the government and to locate the challenges that stunt capacity building and empowerment of women, said director of the workshop D.N. Jena.